Together Again
by SunFlowerViolinist
Summary: Rory went after Jess after he ranaway to California. However, it took them over a year to finally cross paths again. Who knew what they were looking for would be found in a New York city bar? What will happen as this couple reunits? Read to see. I don't own Gilmore Girls. Please Read and Review.
1. Chapter 1

He looked up from the words he was typing to see her face staring at him. It had been over a year but, he still hasn't given up on her. He keeps her pictures sitting on his desk to remind him why he works so hard to make something of himself. The girl with the long brown hair and bright blue eyes. The one that wore the t-shirt that read "Rory loves Jess" standing in front of a welcome to California sign. She was the one that he had to find. The one who gave up everything to go looking for him. Last he heard she was somewhere on the west coast making clothes or something like that. The thought of her being in California made him want to pack up and run back there himself. Yet as he looked out the window of his New York apartment he knew that he had to make something of himself. He had to work to deserve her love. He could hear her voice saying "Goodnight Dodger" as he looked back at his work. Somehow he lost her memory as he typed away.

"God you look horrible." He heard the voice of his friend and roommate Matt coming from behind him.

"It's called deadlines." He mumbled as he continued too type.

"Really, I thought it was called Rory." Matt said with a laugh as he picked up another one of the pictures of Rory that Jess had sitting on his desk. This one was of them at Luke's on their first and only Thanksgiving. Jess just glared up at Matt as he took the picture back. "Now save you work, change clothes and grab a coat I am taking you out for a night on the town." Matt said as he looked at Jess. Normally Jess would put up a fight, but he knew he needed a break before he started slamming his head into the keyboard.

"This better not be a repeat of the gay bar incident." Jess said as the two left the apartment.

"How was I supposed to know that a place called the Masque was going to be a gay bar full of trannies?" Matt asked with a laugh as they walked down a crowed New York street.

"Their headliner was named Trixie Pixie." Jess replied as he glared over at his friend.

* * *

She looked at his picture as the music started. His dark hair, signature smirk, those deep brown eyes, that worn out clash shirt … it's just enough to keep her going even when things get tough. Even when everyone around her tells her she needs to give up on finding her rebel Romeo, she can't bring herself to give up hope on finding him. He still holds her heart. So, she just looks around the recording booth and opens her mouth only for the words she wrote about him to come out perfectly on key. She wondered what he would think about her now. She wondered if he would be proud of her for getting this far or disappointed that she gave up everything she thought she wanted. It was funny to her how far she had come in just over a year. She was a bright eyed girl sitting on her mother's porch dreaming about Ivy League schools and traveling the world. Now she was this strong woman standing with the word in front of her in the biggest city in the country. She couldn't help, but to smile as she passed the album cover from her debut success as she walked out of the booth.

"You rocked that my dear." She heard someone say as she packed up her bag. She turned around to see her friend Lucy. Lucy was the one who introduced her to this possibility. Lucy was a guitarist in a cover band back in California. She was the one who gave Rory her start. "Okay that's it we are going out to celebrate." Lucy said as she smiled at Rory.

"I just want to go home and sleep till the end of the week." Rory said as she looked up at the clock it was almost ten they had been at this since four in the morning.

"You didn't get the memo; you never sleep in New York." Lucy said with a laugh as she drug Rory out the door by her arm.

"You are so lucky I don't have the energy to fight you right now." Rory said as she looked at her best friend as they walked out into the cold New York air.

* * *

Jess just looked around the dump of a bar that Mat brought him to. "This is the best you could do really?" He asked Mat as he looked around at the tables to see mostly suits. Men trying to wash down the pain of their jobs and avoiding going home to their wives.

"I am starting to think there is no place in the whole city that I can take you to without having you make some smart ass comment." Mat said before he took a sip of his beer.

"You're starting to finally understand me." Jess said with a laugh as he signaled for the bartender to come over. "I will take another." He said as he looked at the older man.

"I knew we came here for a reason." Matt said with a laugh as he looked down the bar at a woman who just came in. Jess looked her way. But, it wasn't her that caught his attention. Nope it was the woman with her. He knew those big blue eyes by heart. He just smiled as Matt gave him a weird look. "Hey it's picture girl!" Matt practically yelled as Jess got up.

"You sure have come a long way from Doose's." He said as he took a seat right next to her. She just turned to see him.

"Jess." She breathed as a smile came over her face. "You always have been good at surprising a girl." She said as the bartender brought Jess his beer.

"This punk bothering you Lore?" He asked Rory.

"Not at all Bennie, Dodger here is an old friend." She said with a smile.

"You have no clue how much I have missed hearing you call me that." Jess said as he reached out and pushed a piece of her hair out of her face.

"I don't think we should talk about this here." She said as she looked at him.

"Then let's go somewhere." He said as he looked at her. "Anywhere."

"I know a place we can get something to eat." Rory said as she got up. "Bennie Luce is going to pay for his." She said as she pointed at Jess. The older man just nodded. Jess's mind felt numb as he walked out of the bar with his Rory by his side. He had spent so much time thinking about what he would say when he saw her again, but all of that junk escaped him as he walked down the street.

* * *

Rory tried so hard to process the thoughts that where running through her mind as she walked into her favorite restaurant. It was the best place she had found yet. "Maggie Lynn's." Jess read the sign as they walked in. "You sure do have a type don't you." She just smiled at him as she led him to the booth in the back.

"I went after you." She said after they were seated. "The day after graduation I packed up my things and drove off to California." She just looked down at the table after she said it.

"I know." He said softly causing her to look up. She just looked up at him puzzled for a second. "Luke told me when I went back looking for you."

"You went back?" She asked him as she looked at him. He just nodded at first.

"Rory…leaving you was the dumbest thing I ever did. I just convinced myself that I wasn't good enough for you. You were going to Yale and then you were going to rule the world… I couldn't even manage to graduate high school." He just looked up as she started to laugh.

"You really think I thought you weren't good enough for me?" She asked him. "Are you nuts?"

"I must be." He replied.

"Jess all that stuff about not graduating and all that other crap didn't mean a thing to me. I would have followed you to Mars. I still would." She said as she looked at him. "Jess I still love you." She said as she looked down.

"Please tell me this isn't the part where you say 'but I met someone else'." Jess said as he looked at her.

"There is no one else for me." She said as she looked at him. "You haven't met someone else have you?" She asked as she looked at him.

"No one could ever compare to you." He said softly before a waiter walked up to the table.

"Can I get you anything?" He asked.

"We will take two cups of coffee and a big plate of those rocky road brownies you all are so famous for." Rory said with a smile.

"You Gilmore have not changed on bit." Jess said with a laugh.

"Oh I wouldn't hold your breath on that." She said with a laugh as she looked at him.


	2. Chapter 2

Rory just smiled as she looked up at the sky as she walked out of Maggie Lynn's clinging to Jess's side for dear life. Snowflakes fell softly with the bright city lights in the background. "Mom always did say that snow was magical." She said as she smiled up at him. He just rolled his eyes as he pulled her closer.

"Just tell me where we are going." He said as he looked down at her.

"Just enjoy the moment." She said to him as they continued down the street. It wasn't long before they were stopped in front of an apartment building.

"You seriously live here?" Jess asked her. "This place makes my apartment building look like Kirk's bus bench." She just laughed as she walked him in the building and led him to the elevator.

"Somehow I don't believe that." She said with a laugh as they got on the elevator. "You aren't scared of dogs are you?" She asked him as she pushed the button for the fourth floor. He just shook his head and raised his eyebrow. "Good." She said with a smile as they got off the elevator. She led him to the door at the end of the hall that had a number 42 on it. He watched her carefully as she fiddled with her keys to open the door. When she did get it open she held it open for him to walk in. He took a moment to look around before he came to the clear conclusion that it was the fanciest studio apartment he had ever been in. He looked over at her bed to see two little dogs sound asleep.

"Rory Gilmore has dogs. I would have never seen that coming." He said with a laugh as he looked at the little beagle and the furry mess cuddled up next to it.

"That's Jasper and Jinxy." Rory said with a laugh as she put her bag on the sofa.

"And they came with the apartment?" He asked as he followed her to the kitchen area.

"More like they came with Lucy." Rory replied with a laugh. "When her mother passed I took Jasper and Jinxy, she got the cat and lizard." She reached up in the cabinet for some wine glasses and placed them on the counter before she grabbed a bottle of wine from on top of the fridge. He just took another look around the apartment paying attention to what all was around him this time.

"When you said you were singing I didn't realize how big of a part of your life it is." He said as he looked at the pictures that were all around of her performing and the guitars that lined the far wall. Then the gold record on the wall caught his attention.

"Well it's more of a career at the moment." She said as she handed him a glass of wine. "It started out as a way to have fun." She softly as she looked at him. "I met Lucy and before too long she had me signing with her cover band. Then we came up with a few fun original songs to use in our show. And before long I was playing my own gigs with my own songs. Got signed in no time and here I am working on album number two." She said as she looked at him.

"Play me something." He said as he smiled at her.

"You don't want to hear me sing." She said as her face turned red.

"Ror play." He said as he motioned over to the guitars.

"You are just as bad as Luce." She said as she sat down on one of her bar stools with her acoustic guitar in her lap. "Just want to point out that this is a song about no one that you know." She said with a laugh as she started to play. "For a while my mother thought it was about her and she was pissed." Rory said as she looked up at him. "Somebody had to set a bad example, teach all the prim and proper's what not to do….all the girls that I grew up with went to college, their rich daddies bought them a degree, but I am a third generation bartender…nobody around here wants to ramble what the that's what I was born to do…I said, what the hell that's what I was born to do." She sang before looking up at Jess. He just clapped for a moment.

"Are you sure that's not about Lorelai? I mean it fits her pretty well." He said with a laugh.

"I am sure it's about Lucy's sister." She replied as she looked at him.

"So, am I supposed to call you Lorelai Leigh now?" He asked as he looked back over at her record. That was the name that was on it.

"God no I will always be your Rory." She said as she got up and wrapped her arms around him.

"That's a good thing because I wouldn't want it to be any other way." He said as he cupped her face. He leaned down gently as brought his lips to hers. He couldn't help, but to be surprised when she leaned into him and kissed him back. "Well at least we still know that that part still works." Jess said with a smile as they broke away thinking back to their second first kiss.

"Just promise me no more running. I am sick of one of us having come back to each other like this." She said as she looked at him.

"I promise I won't leave again." He said as held on to her.

"If you do I get to hunt you down and personally chop off your head." She said as she smiled up at him.

"Sounds like a plan." He said as he leaned down to kiss her again. It was going to work this time he could feel it. Everything was finally right. The stars were aligned and all that other junk.

"You have to break this news to Luke." She said as she pulled away from him.

"As long as you handle Lorelai I will be fine." He said with a laugh before he captured her lips again.


	3. Chapter 3

_ It all started with a picture. The one sitting on Lorelai Gilmore's mantel of a young woman with long brown hair and bright blue eyes. It was the first interesting thing he found in Stars Hallow until he met the real thing. She was sitting at her desk typing away on her laptop. When she tunred around and smiled at him everything changed. "Hey." _

_ "Hey." He replied trying not to stare at her for too long._

_ "I'm Rory." She said with a smile. _

_ "Yeah I figured." He said as he walked over to her bookshelf. _

_ "Nice to meet you." She said as she watched him. _

_ "Wow aren't we hooked on Phonics." He replied as he picked up a copy of Howl. _

_ "Oh I read a lot. Do you read?" She said as she got up and looked at him._

_ "Not much." He said as he flipped through the pages of the book._

_ "I could loan you that it's great." She said as she tried to read him._

_ "No thanks." He said as he sat the book down and walked across the room to meet her._

_ "Well if you change your mind." She said as she looked at him. _

Jess was stirred out of his sleep to the sound of a knock at the door and then Rory's voice. "Be quite Jess is sleeping." He heard her say as he opened his eyes. The first thing he saw was her beagle Jasper curled up next to him where at one point Rory was. Then he turned his head to see Rory standing in front of the stove talking to the girl who was with her the night before and an older woman with short blonde hair. He tried to close his eyes and escape back to the past in his dreams, but he couldn't bring himself to. So, he just sat up to see Rory smile at him. "Breakfast is almost done sleepy head." She said as she looked at him. He forgot how much he loved the way she looked at him like he was the whole world.

"You actually cooked." He said as he got out of the bed still in the clothes he wore the day before. He watched as the other two gave him a weird look. "Are you sure you are a Gilmore?" He asked with a laugh as he walked over to her.

"I am learning how to cook." She said as she looked at him. "You didn't really think that I was always going to be a little Lorelai?" She asked him.

"A woman that cooks isn't that every man's dream?" The older woman asked as she looked at Jess. He just rolled his eyes as he looked at the papers that were lining the counter. He picked up one to see a picture of Rory sitting on the steps of a white Gazebo. The words: Songs for Dodger lined the bottom of the page and in the opposite corner: Lorelai Leigh.

"Songs for Dodger?" He asked Rory as he looked at her.

"I tried to talk her out of it, but the only thing Rory seems to ever think about is her Dodger. I thought you would have been taller." Lucy said as she looked up at Jess from her seat at the counter.

"Does she come with a mute button?" He asked Rory. She just smiled at him.

"No, but why don't you work on that one." She said as she kissed his check before placing a plate in front of him. He looked down at the breakfast taco and just smiled. This is something his Rory would come up with.

"So what are you trying to do here?" He asked as he watched the girls eat and pass around the photos.

"Pick an album cover." Rory said as she looked at him. "I think I am leaning towards this one." She said as she held up the picture he just had in his hand. "What do you think?"

"I think you shouldn't use any of them." He said as he looked at her. "Go down to the bridge. Sit in the middle with your feet hanging off and that would be perfect." She just smiled at the thought of their bridge.

"Are we missing something?" The older woman asked as she looked at Rory who was thinking about all the moments they shared on that bridge, but one just kept flooding back to her.

_Life never seems to go the way you plan it. Rory Gilmore knew that one for sure. But, all the messed up pieces however started to go together as she sat out on the bridge in tears. Not sure if she was upset about the break-up or the fact that she knew in her heart that she was falling in love with Jess. Good old bad boy Jess who was so wrong for her, but yet somehow he seemed so right for her. "Dean's a jerk." She heard the familiar comforting voice of Jess. "Yelling at you like that…breaking up in front of everybody. The guy is a total jerk." She didn't look up. She didn't have to. She could see his face in her head without even thinking about it._

_ "No he's not." She said as she thought about it. "He was right. Everything he said…all those things about you and me… all those things about me lying to him and messing with his head. He was right." She looked up at him, but she couldn't read what he was thinking. His face was emotionless. "Well wasn't he?" She asked him looking for something, but still nothing. "Fine! He was right about me then!" She yelled at him. "Now go away!" _

_ "He was right." Jess said as he moved closer to her. She just looked up at him. "About all of it." He breathed. _

_ "So what now?" She asked him as she brushed the tears off her face. _

_ "You definitely broken up with Dean?" He asked as he looked at her. _

_ "Yeah." She said as she nodded. "I am definitely broken up with Dean." She just looked up at him again. She was looking for answers. _

_ "Okay." He said softly as he nodded at her. "I have to go take care of something then." He said before he walked away._

She just smiled at the thought of all the good times that moment on the bridge led to. "The bridge is sort of a special place to us. But, he is right we are going to just have to do another photo shoot." She said as she looked at the pictures on the table. "I have worked too hard for this not to be perfect."

"Okay, but do you at least think you have a track line up that you like?" The older woman asked as she looked at Rory with a saddened face.

"I am getting there." She replied as she looked over at Jess. "What are you doing this weekend?" She asked him.

"Nothing why?" He replied as he looked at her.

"I say we take a trip to Stars Hallow. I can have the car packed in no time. We bring the dogs and Lucy here is a great photographer." She said with a big smile.

"Why not?" He said with a laugh. "But, I will need more to wear than this." He said as he looked down at his clothes. She just rolled her eyes at him.

"You really think I would make you go all the way to Stars Hallow with just the clothes on your back?" She asked him.

"No, but that was before you became this unpredictable Rory." He said with a smile.

"You are so lucky that you are so damn loveable." She said with a laugh as she smiled up at him.


	4. Chapter 4

Stars Hallow were in a full on buzz as people started to hear the news. Bootsy was standing on the corner handing out magazines as Kirk stood on the other street corner. However, somehow Lorelai Gilmore managed to walk all the way from her house to the news stand before finding out what the hell was going on. "Everyone gets one today. You're going want to read this." Bootsy said as he tossed her a magazine. She just looked at him puzzled for a moment before looking down at the cover. There in one of the little boxes was a picture of her daughter and Jess with the words: Who is Lorelai's mystery man, under it. She looked over at Kirk who was holding up one of his t-shirts he was trying to sale.

"GET YOUR RORY AND JESS TOGETHER AGAIN T-SHIRT!" He yelled as he looked at the people walking passed him. Lorelai just ran into Luke's in anger.

"Your no good nephew has done it this time." She said as she tossed the magazine down on the table. "First my only daughter gives up all her dreams to chase his coward ass down and now they didn't even tell me that they fixed things!" She yelled as she looked at her longtime friend who was looking at the tabloid. "I swear if I see him again I will tie his ass up on one of these street lights." She said as the diner customers started to whisper.

"Lorelai this is what Rory wanted. If she didn't want to find him she wouldn't have packed up and left the way she did. You just have to trust her. She is a big girl now." He said as he looked at her.

"I never did like that boy." She huffed as she looked up at Luke.

"I think the whole town knows that." He said as he looked at the customers who were watching them.

"Just get me some coffee." She said as she glanced behind her before looking back at Luke.

* * *

Jess looked over at Rory who was fiddling with the radio dial as he drove passed the "Welcome to Stars Hallow" sign before looking in the mirror to look at the van that had followed them all the way from the city. At first he was creped out by the van until Rory told him that it was just Lucy. "Pull over here." She said as she looked back at the van.

"Yes dear." He said as he parked in front of Al's Pancake world before Rory got out and walked to the van that pulled up right behind them. He just followed her.

"I was thinking Lucy could take the dogs and head on over to the inn." Rory said as she looked at him. "Giving us some time to take in the town."

"Okay." Jess said as he looked at her.

"Goodie well I meet up with you two love birds later then." Lucy said with a smile as she started the van.

"So where first?" Jess asked Rory as they walked down the sidewalk waving to Lucy.

"Luke's!" She squealed as they walked down the street. It didn't take long for Jess to notice that the townspeople were actually stopping what they were doing and looking at the couple. Rory just looked up at him and smiled. "Stars of this town since we were seventeen." She mumbled to him before she kissed the side of his face. He saw a flash and turned to see Gypsy standing on the other side of the street. He just glared at her.

"You two can do better than that. Do you know how much I could get for a picture of you two lip locking?" She asked them.

"Can you leave us alone? I am sure Rory will let you cut a lock of her hair to sale later." Jess said as he wrapped his arm around Rory protectively.

"If she comes at me with scissors later you are so dead." Rory said with a laugh as they turned on to Main Street to see all the craziness. Jess's eyes floated over to Kirk who was yelling at the top of his lungs.

"GET YOUR RORY AND JESS TOGETHER AGAIN T-SHIRT! GET THEM BEFORE THEY ARE GONE!" He yelled as Bootsy got ahold of Rory's arm.

"Rory how about you sign some of these for me." He said as he held a stack of tabloids. Rory just picked up one and then quickly looked up at Bootsy.

"Everyone in town has these." She said as she looked at him.

"Yep, been handing them out for free today." He said as if he was proud of himself.

"You are so dead." Rory said as she handed the magazine to Jess. "I bet money mom flipped." She said as he looked at the picture of them together last night as they walked back to her place.

"I am dead." Jess said as he led Rory towards Luke's. The stares and odd looks continued as they walked into the diner.

"LUKE!" Rory called as she walked into the diner to see Luke standing behind the counter. "I need a super-sized coffee and a detailed description of how pissed my mother is." She said as she sat down at one of the stools.

"Well, I think Jess might want to be scared for his life." Luke said with a chuckle as he poured Rory a coffee. Rory just looked Jess who had sat down next to her. "However, Liz might save your life for you."

"Liz is here?" Jess asked.

"Oh yeah her and that whack-a-do husband of hers have moved to Stars Hallow." Luke said as he looked at his nephew. "And the best part TJ thinks I am his best friend. I am so glad you are in town." He said as he patted Jess's shoulder.

"It's only for the weekend." Rory said as she looked at Luke. "I am taking him back to New York with me." She said as she hugged him.

"You two are back to being sickening." The older man said before he went back waiting tables.

"Oh goodie Rory is in town." Taylor said as he walked in the diner.

"Run." Jess whispered to her.

"I have wanted to talk to you about something." Taylor said as he stood in front of the two.

"Actually I have to run and met up with my mother. But, Jess can bring the message back to me. Can't you doll face?" She asked him trying so hard to keep a straight face.

"Sure thing." Jess said bitterly as Rory got up and headed towards the door.

* * *

Rory walked into the Dragonfly Inn keeping her eyes open for her mother. She wasn't in the lobby so she went with her gut and walked towards the kitchen. "Oh mother of mine are you in here?" She asked as she opened the kitchen door. Sure enough Lorelai was standing by the coffee pot talking to Sookie.

"Rory!" Lorelai squealed as she ran to hug her daughter.

"Sorry about the picture. I didn't even see the people last night. I swear I was going to tell you before anyone." Rory said in a jumbled mess.

"I guess it's that's the price of fame a mothers broken heart." Lorelai said as with a smile as she looked at her daughter. "But, I still want all the details." Rory was shocked how well her mother seemed to be taking this. After all she made her feelings about Jess clear. She blamed him for everything. In her mind he ruined her daughter. But, she sat there with a smile as Rory talked about how happy she was to have found him.

* * *

Jess sat on the bus bench reading a book that Rory had left in the car. He was trying to ignore the fact that the whole damn town was staring at him. "So what did you do for your first date?" Kirk asked him as he sat down with his box of shirts on his lap.

"Rory and I never really had a first date." Jess said as he looked up at Kirk.

"Isn't that the sort of thing you fix when you get a second chance?" Kirk asked him. Jess just looked at him puzzled.

"Why are you asking anyways?" Jess asked him.

"I asked this girl out and for once she actually said yes. So, what do you do for the first date?" Kirk asked.

"Just don't take her home and you will be fine." Jess said as he looked at the shirt box. "How much do you want for the shirts?" He asked.

"You can have two for free." Kirk said as he handed Jess two shirts.

"Thanks." Jess said as he got up thinking about what Kirk said about second chances. He wanted to make Rory know how special she is to him. So, all he has to do is find a way to do that. That sounds easy enough.


	5. Chapter 5

_ "Do you think Luke will know we went to Soup Planation?" Rory asked her mother as they were stopped at the only stoplight in town. Luke was standing outside of the diner sweeping._

_ "Not unless you tell him." Her mother answered. _

_ "Maybe he will be able to tell…there would be a glow." Rory replied._

_ "An all you can eat glow." Lorelai said as she processed the thought. _

_ "He will see the glow. Know we cheated and never give us extra fries again." Rory said as she looked back out at Luke. As soon as Luke saw them sitting there he ran into the diner. "Mom why did Luke just bolt away from us?" Rory asked. _

_ "Maybe he saw the glow." Lorelai said trying to laugh it off. _

_ "Mom." Rory said looking for the real answer. Lorelai just looked down at the steering wheel for a second. _

_ "First of all I am sorry I didn't tell you sooner. I just thought with all the stuff you are doing maybe I should wait." She said as she looked at her daughter. _

_ "What's going on?" Rory asked. _

_ "Jess is gone."_

_ "Gone where?" Rory asked as she looked down._

_ "I don't know. Luke knows, but he didn't tell me." Lorelai said as she watched her daughter. "But, he doesn't seem to think he is coming back." _

_ "Neither do I." Rory said softly as she looked down. _

Sitting in that car telling her daughter that the boy she clearly was in love with had just up and left town. However, that wasn't as hard as when her little girl did the same damn thing.

_"Rory we need to get going or we are going to miss the plane." Lorelai said as she walked into Rory's room. However, Rory wasn't there…her stuff wasn't there. There was a note on the bed. _

_ Mom,_

_Sorry to do this to you. I tried to let go … I really tried, but when you love someone so much it is hard to let go. I know that you may never understand why I am doing this. I just have to find him. Get my answers. Sorry, I love you. _

_ Rory_

_ Lorelai just sat on the bed and cried for a good hour before walking to Luke's. "Aren't you supposed to be on a flight to Paris right now?" He asked. _

_ "Rory left." Lorelai said as she as she sat down at the counter. "She packed up her stuff and drove off to chase Jess down in California." _

_ "What about Yale?" Luke asked. _

_ "She is going." Lorelai said as she laid her head down on the counter. "She is leaving everything behind for Jess." _

Therefore, it is hard for her not to want to string Jess up by his throat. There was the boy who ruined her daughter's life sitting across the street. She did her best not to let Rory know that she was still mad. It was hard to be mad when Rory was so happy. "Don't hurt her." Lorelai said as she sat down on the bus bunch next to him. He just looked up at her for a moment.

"I would have to be stupid to." He said as he looked at her. "I know you don't think I am good enough for her." He said as he looked at the ground. "I don't either, but I love her."

"And she loves you…god only knows why." Lorelai said as she looked up "Just don't take her away from me again. I just got her back." Lorelai said as she got up. Jess just watched as she disappeared down the street.

* * *

Rory walked into Doose's market with Lucy. "Okay let's get the dog food and get out here as soon as possible." Rory said as she looked at Lucy.

"Who are you scared of running into in here?" Lucy asked.

"Anyone with scissors or Taylor trying to get me to be on some sign or something." Rory said as she looked around. "Where the hell is the dog food? Damn you Taylor and your regular moving of products." She said as she turned the corner looking for up and down the shelves. Then she saw a familiar face standing there in his green Doose's apron. "Dean, please tell me where dog food is." She said as she looked at him. She didn't get the answer before Taylor found her. "Get the dog food." Rory said to Lucy as Taylor drug her away.

"So you're the famous Dean." Lucy said as she looked him up and down. "How's married life going for you?" She asked him. He just shrugged as he led her to the dog food.

* * *

"You are so dead." Rory said as she sat down next to Jess. She finally tracked him down at the old bridge. She could tell he was thinking about something. "You do realize you have now have committed to two more weekends in this crazy place. And if I have to be the Snow Princess at the Winter Carnival you have to be my Snow Prince." She said as she looked at him.

"All I said you would do is the charity benefit to raise money to make repairs to the bridge." He said as he looked at her.

"What's wrong?" She asked as he looked down in the water at his reflection.

"I don't want to lose you. I don't want to mess things up this time." He said as he looked up at her.

"Things are going to be different this time." She said as she looked at him. "There is no reason for history to repeat itself."

"Time has never been on our side." He said as he looked down at the lake.

"Jess what are you saying?" She asked.

"Marry me. Come on Rory we can run down to the court house tonight. We did the dating thing…I am ready for forever, aren't you?" He asked her.

"I…" She looked at the water thinking about how she always hoped he would ask this one day. But, it her head it was more romantic. She did love him though and she wanted to be his wife one day. Was she ready? She just looked at him and opened her mouth to answer as she finished the pon/con list in her head.


	6. Chapter 6

She looked at the water thinking about how she always hoped he would ask this one day. But, it her head it was more romantic. She did love him through and she wanted to be his wife one day. Was she ready? She just looked at him and opened her mouth to answer as she finished the pon/con list in her head. "If we are going to do this, we are going to do it right. White dress, a hundred plus people, chicken or beef. I want all of that. And a ring. And you have to get down on one knee and ask me properly with flowers and candles everywhere. I want everything to be perfect." She said as she looked at him. His face just lit up as he looked at her.

"So, that's a yes…well sort of." He said with a smile as he looked at her. She just nodded as she started to cry. "I love you so much Rory." He said as he leaned in to kiss her.

"I love you." She whispered before their lips met in a kiss. "We have to celebrate." She said as she pulled away from him.

"How are we supposed to do that?" He asked her. She just got up.

"Come on I know how." She said as she pulled him up.

"Rory where are you dragging me to?" Jess asked as she pulled him along.

"Go with the flow baby." She said as she pulled him into a kiss. She just laughed as a flash went off.

"Now that is a kiss!" Gypsy yelled to the couple.

"Stars of the town since we were seventeen." He mumbled her words to her with a smile before he kissed her again.

"Stop distracting me." She said as she started to pull him down the street to Taylor's Old Fashion Soda Shop.

"This is your ideal of celebrating…ice cream." He said as he held the door open for her.

"Nope ice cream in cones." She said with a smile trigging his memory. He just smiled at her as he wrapped his arms around her and led her to the counter.

* * *

Lucy walked around town scooting locations for tomorrows shoot. She was looking at the structure of the Twickum house that Rory told her to check out when she saw the same tall brown headed boy from the market coming towards her. "Shouldn't you be stuck to Rory's side?" He asked as he looked at her then the house.

"She went looking for Jess." Lucy said as she looked at him.

"Jess has that effect on her. She will leave everyone in the dust for someone who can't even stay long enough to have something real." He muttered at her.

"Like you know everything. Rory is my best friend. I have never seen her this happy so just keep your opinions about Jess to yourself." Lucy spat at him sourly before walking away before turning around to look at him. "You're just mad that you weren't what she wanted. It was real pathetic of you to drunk dial her and profess your love the day before your wedding. You have a wife, so get over Rory or you will be one bitter old man." She said before walking away.

* * *

Lorelai walked out of her house to see Luke getting out of his truck. "You were going to come to the door, how sweet." She said as she looked at him.

"Isn't that what the guy does?" Luke asked her.

"Sorry I assumed I was meeting you at the diner." She said softly.

"Oh, well with Rory being in town in all I didn't know if you wanted me to… and I am rambling sorry." He said as he walked her to the passenger side of his truck.

"Rory and Jess had a funny since of time to get back together." Lorelai said as Luke opened the door for her.

* * *

Jess just smiled as he processed what just happened. Somehow in the short time of two days he went from a lonely heartbroken mess to what felt like the happiest man on the planet. He was going to marry Rory. This piece of perfection was going to be his forever. It was hard for him to wrap his mind around the fact that his Rory … the girl that was out of reach for so long was laying there with him staring up at the ceiling of her hotel room. "What are you thinking about?" She asked as she placed her head on his bare chest.

"I am just trying to make sure this is real." He replied as he looked down at her. Rory just smiled at him.

"I promise you this is real." She said as she snuggled up to him.

"What are you thinking about?" He asked as he put his arm around her.

"How perfect this moment is." She answered. "I love you Jess."

"I love you Rory." He replied.


	7. Chapter 7

Jess was lying in bed listening to the sound of Rory singing as she got ready when his cell phone went off. He just picked it up to see the name Matt flashing across the screen. He just rolled his eyes before answering it. "How can I help you?" He asked into the phone.

_"Well, first off you can explain to me why I come home last night to a note on the fridge saying that you left town for the weekend. And then you can call your editor so he stops calling here. And don't you hate Stars Hallow." _Matt said on the other line freaking out like he normally. Jess just laughed for a moment.

"Take a chill pill there mother." Jess said as he got up and walked over to the window.

_"I am just trying to figure this out. You run into your ex-girlfriend and don't come home. Within a day you two are already taking vacations together. Not to mention that your picture is in People, Enquirer, and Teen Bop."_ Matt said on the other line. _ "All of which I find out during my shift at the bookstore."_

"I asked her to marry me." Jess mumbled as he looked out the window. "You're the first one to know that."

_"How much longer are you in Stars Hallow?" _Matt asked.

"A few more days. Don't worry I will call Ellyn after breakfast." Jess replied.

_"Good." _ Matt said.

"Hey, can you tell?" Rory asked as she walked into the room from the bathroom. Jess just turned around to see her standing there already to go.

"I will call you later Matt." He said as he hung up the phone. "Can I tell what?" He asked her as he looked at her.

"I just feel like everyone is going to be able to tell that we are engaged. There isn't like an engagement glow is there?" She asked as she smiled at him.

"Nope, there is no glow." He said as he walked over to her. "No glow at all little Lorelai." He said before he kissed her head.

"I will meet you in the lobby." She softly as he walked towards the bathroom. "I was thinking we could go to Luke's."

"Luke's sounds great." He said before she walked out into the hallway.

* * *

Rory practically ran down the hall to Lucy's room. "Luce open up." She said as she knocked on the door. Lucy just opened the door half dressed with curlers still in her long black hair.

"What the hell is going on Ror?" She asked as Rory walked in and she shut the door. Rory looked over the dogs who were sitting on the bed watching television. "Oh my god, you had sex." She said as she looked at her best friend.

"No, well yes…how could you tell?" Rory asked her as she sat down on the bed.

"You have a glow." Lucy said as she sat down next to her.

"I knew there was a glow." Rory said softly. "But, that's not what I wanted to tell you."

"Rory what's going on?" Lucy asked.

"You cannot tell my mother." Rory said as she looked at the dogs then at Lucy who just nodded. "Jess asked me to marry him."

"And you said?" Lucy asked as her face lite up.

"That he needed to get me a ring." She said.

"You're getting married!" Lucy screamed as she hugged Rory. "I better be your maid of honor." She said with a laugh.

* * *

Walking into the lobby of the Dragonfly Inn Jess felt as if everyone in the whole place was staring at him. It didn't help that when he met up with Rory and Lucy they started chanting "Luke's!" "If you two start skipping I don't know you." He said with a laugh as they walked out of the inn.

"He could have never handled Cali with us." Lucy said as she looked at Rory.

"Definitely not with Ava." Rory said with a laugh as she thought about the friend they left back in L.A.

"Oh little Mason would make the perfect little…" Lucy started to say when Rory shoot her a look that said shut up.

"You told her." Jess said as he looked at Rory.

"You told Matt and Lucy won't tell anyone else…in town at least. And Mason is my godson and he would be in the wedding." Rory said as she looked at him. "Gigi too."

"Ah a name I know." He said as he held open the door to Luke's for her.

"Is it me or does Luke looked a little freaked to you?" Rory asked as she looked at Luke who was talking on the phone.

"Seems like normal Luke to me." Jess said as they sat down.

"I hope he isn't out of coffee." Rory said as she looked back at Luke who was still on the phone.

"When has Luke ever been out of coffee?" He asked her.

"That's right you weren't here for the great coffee ban of 1998." She said as she looked at Jess.

"How about I get your coffee before you tell me this story." He said as he got up.

"You're an angel." Rory said as she looked at him. "A muffin too!" She said as she smiled at him.

* * *

Jess said goodbye to the girls at the diner. They had work to get done and he a list of things to do. Unfortunately the first thing he had to do was the most unpleasant. He stood outside of the house that he begged Luke for the address. He could hear people inside fighting as he knocked on the door. A man he had only saw in pictures answered the door. "Is Liz home?" Jess asked as he looked at the short man in front of him.

"It's for you!" The man called into the house.

"Well, did you at least ask who it is?" Liz asked as she came into sight. "Jess." She said as she went to hug her son. "I heard you were in town. Come in. So, what brings you here?" She said as she led him over towards a floral mess of a sofa.

"I wanted to see if I could have Grandma's engagement ring." Jess said as he looked at his mother. Growing up she always made it clear that when he met the right girl he could have the ring.

"You going to ask that girl of yours to marry you?" The man said as he sat down on a chair a crossed the room. Jess just nodded as he looked at his mother.

"Oh how exciting, you know we framed that magazine you were in yesterday. It isn't every day that you kid is front page news. Well, I guess for Lorelai it is, but… I have heard that Rory is a very nice kid. I wouldn't know because I have never met her, but you should hear the whole town talk about her." Liz said as she looked at her son.

"She's great and I am sure you will love her. So, what's the deal with the ring?" He asked her. She just looked down at the floor for a moment.

"You know T.J. has a great ring guy that will get you a great deal on a really nice ring." She said as she looked up at him.

"What happened to Grandma's ring?" He asked her.

"Times were hard Jess, you have to understand it was keeping the ring that I had no use for or be able to feed my son." She said as she looked at him.

"You hawked you mother's engagement ring!" He yelled as he got up. "I can't believe this!" He said as he stormed out of the house.

* * *

Rory and Lucy were walking down Main Street looking at the camera screen at the shoots they had already finished when something caught their attention. "YOU WANT OUT FINE! YOUR OUT! YOUR CRAP IS OUT!" They heard someone yell before clothes started to fly out of a third story apartment.

"So this is small town entertainment." Lucy said with a laugh as she looked up at the building.

"I wonder who it is." Rory said softly as she looked up.

"I HATE YOU DEAN! I HATE EVERYTHING!" The voice from the window said as more stuff came flying out the window.

"Well, now we know." Lucy said as she looked up.

"YOU DON'T WANT TO BE HERE! FINE, I DON'T WANT YOU HERE!"

"That's what happens when you get married too young I guess." Rory said as they just stood there watching everything that was happening.

"You're getting scared about saying yes aren't you?" Lucy asked as she looked at Rory.

"A little, but I know that it's a different case." Rory said as they started to walk away again.

"You look pale." Lucy said as she looked over at Rory.

"Need more coffee." Rory said as she looked back at the scene still going on.

"Dragonfly it is." Lucy said as she smiled at her friend.

* * *

Jess walked into Luke's looking for a place to figure out everything. "You're mother came in here about an hour ago crying her eyes out." Luke said as Jess took a seat at the counter. "Going on and on about how she is a bad mother for not keeping that stupid ring." Luke said before he placed a box on the counter.

"What is this?" Jess asked as he looked at the black velvet box.

"You're grandmother's ring. The real one. My father might have been blind to all the problems my sister caused, but he was smart enough to know not to give her the real one. She had the ring he got her for their fifth anniversary." Luke said as he looked at Jess. Jess just opened the box to see the simple ring with the two sapphires on each side of the diamond. Sure enough it was the one he remembered in the pictures.

"Rory's going to love it." He said as he looked at it. "Thank you."

"Don't worry about it. But, for future reference TJ's ring guy is Kirk." Luke said with a chuckle. "Good luck." Luke said before he walked away.

* * *

Rory was sitting out on the steps of the dragonfly waiting for Jess. He had told her earlier he would meet her here. "You look exhausted are you sure you want to go to this town meeting?" He asked her.

"Not exhausted just bored. I have been out here for twenty minutes." She said as she stood up. He just pulled out his phone and looked at the clock. He was supposed to be here fifteen minutes ago.

"Why didn't you call me?" He asked as he wrapped his arm around her waist.

"I didn't want to interrupt something important." She said as she looked at him.

"I was just fighting with Taylor you would have been fine interrupting. In fact you can interrupt everything that is ever going on in my life." He said as he looked at her.

"This isn't the way to Miss. Patty's." Rory said as the couple turned behind the high school instead of walking straight.

"Sure it is." He said as he looked at her. She just raised her eyebrow at him as the bridge came into sight. She just smiled at him as she saw the roses and candles that lined the bridge.

"This is what you were fighting with Taylor about." She said as she looked at him.

"For the most part." He answered as he led her on to the bridge. "He also wasn't too happy about this." He said as he pointed to the boats approaching them. She looked at the gang of men in barber's outfits thinking back to the summer before her senior year.

"I thought you hated all the crazy town events?" She asked him.

"Yeah, but I got an interesting take on that day from Lucy. I never knew you were that jealous." He said as he looked at her.

"Well I walked up to her and asked her if she wanted to dance…" The men in the boats started singing the Beach Boys classic that Lucy had recommended to Jess. Jess just dropped down on one knee and looked up at Rory.

"Rory, I have been in love with you since I moved to this crazy little town. I know my feelings will never change and that there is no way that I could stand to let something so perfect go. Lorelai Leigh Gilmore, will you do me the great honor of marrying me?" He asked as he pulled the ring box out of his jacket.

"Yes." She whispered to him. He just stood up and brought her into a hug before kissing her. "I love you." She whispered as they pulled apart.

"I love you." He said as he took the ring out of the box and gently put it on her finger. He was surprised that it actually had fit.

"Wow, it's beautiful." Rory said as she looked at the ring.

"It was my grandmothers." Jess said as he wrapped his arm around her.

"We're getting married." Rory whispered before she kissed the side of his face.

"Are you crying?" He asked her as he looked at her.

"Happy tears." She replied as she cuddled up to his side.

* * *

"Taylor is going to freak out." Rory said as she stood outside the door of the town meeting.

"Just flash your ring and everyone will focus on killing me." Jess said as he opened the door for her.

"Two seats up front." She mumbled to him as they sneaked in during a town vote.

"I wonder what wack-a-do thing is going to be up for decision next." Jess mumbled.

"Try to be into this…for me." She whispered to him before Taylor started talking again.

"Alright let's move on to the next order of business. A very serious matter has been brought to our attention and I would like to bring to the floor for decision the possible negative ramifications of the inn owner and diner owner dating." Taylor said.

"What the hell is he talking about?" Rory asked as she looked at Jess and then back at her mother and Luke.

"Now as you all know the relationship we have all feared for some time has emerged and we need to carefully consider whether or not we can support this." Taylor said.

"I didn't know." Rory said as she looked at Taylor.

"We're sitting right here." Luke chimed in before Jess knew it Rory was out the door.

"Yes we see you Luke and as a member of the town you're allowed to voice your opinion." Taylor replied as Jess went after Rory.

"Why didn't she tell me?" Rory asked him as she sat a crossed the street looking at Miss. Patty's.

"Maybe she is just embarrassed to be dating Luke." Jess said with a laugh trying to cheer her up. "Not helping." He said as he looked at her.

"We tell each other everything. I would have been happy for them. Luke has been like a father to me." She said as she placed her head on Jess's shoulder.

"I think you just have to talk to your mother about this." He said as he wrapped his arms around her.

* * *

"Okay that's it I have heard enough." Luke said as he got up and walked up to Taylor who now had maps showing what places in town would be Luke and what places in town that would be Lorelai. "This is my relationship. Mine. Not yours, not yours, yours, but not yours." Luke said as he looked at the crowd. "Mine and hers, but not yours. There is not going to be no more debting about whether or not we should be in a relationship because we are in a relationship."

"But in the event of a break up." Taylor chimmed in. Luke just turned around to look at him.

"There is not going to be a break up." Luke said.

"Well, isn't he the optimistic fellow." Gypsy said.

"Fine, if there is a break up I'll move. I'll close the diner. I'll go far far away and every section in town can be pink." Luke said.

"Can we have your word on that?" Taylor asked.

"You can have my word and a couple dozen middle fingers." Luke said as he looked at Taylor. "You still in?" He asked Lorelai as she walked up to him.

"Of course." She replied.

"Go talk to Rory." He said as he looked at Rory and Jess sitting across the street.

* * *

Lorelai walked over to the bench that her daughter was sitting on. She didn't have to say anything as soon as he saw her coming Jess moved. "So, you're dating Luke." Rory said as she looked at her mother.

"Yeah I'm dating Luke." Lorelai said as she looked at her daughter.

"You should have told me." Rory said as she moved a piece of hair out of her face causing Lorelai to notice the ring.

"So, you're engaged." Lorelai said as she took a hold of her daughter hand to look at the ring on her finger.

"As of a half hour ago." Rory said as she looked at her mother.

"When were you going to tell me?" Lorelai asked.

"Right about now if that went differently." Rory answered. "You're happy, right?" Lorelai wasn't sure what the question was about.

"Yeah I am happy. You're happy too, right?" She asked her daughter.

"Yeah." Rory answered.

"So, Luke's?" Lorelai asked.

"Is there anywhere else to go after these meetings?" Rory asked her as she stood up.

"Mommy taught you right." Lorelai said as she hugged her daughter.


	8. Chapter 8

Being back in New York was a culture shock for Rory. Every time she went home it was a reminder of how much she felt like she didn't belong in a place like New York. She was a small town girl at heart…always will be. But, her career was here. And Jess loved this place so much. But, being here with Jess made it almost seem right. She just sat at her kitchen counter as he rummaged through her fridge for something to eat. "Don't worry I have go to the grocery right here on my calendar." She said with a laugh as she held up her planner. "Okay so we have dinner with my dad tonight and the Gilmore's tomorrow. Then I have my appearance on The View Thursday which is sure to be the public announcement." She said as she wrote things down in her planner.

"Don't forget we have that thing at the bookstore Friday night." Jess said as he stood in front of her.

"Ah yes the mystery thing you refuse to tell me about." She said as she wrote it down. "We have to leave from there to go to Stars Hallow for the bridge fundraiser."

"We have lunch with Liz and TJ on Sunday because if they call me even more I will scream." He added.

"Screaming is bad." Rory said with a laugh. "I have to get going." She said as she looked at her phone which was lying next to her. "See you at seven." She said as she leaned over the counter before kissing him.

* * *

Rory walked into Maggie Lynn's to see Lucy and Ricky waiting for her already. "Am I late?" She asked as she sat down next to Lucy.

"When aren't you late?" Ricky asked her with a laugh. Although Ricky was her manger and the wife of the man that owned the label she was signed to over the past year she had become like a second mother.

"Well, I am sorry I was working on this." She said as she pulled out papers from her purse. "A complete track line up and cover art choice."

"This guy must be a miracle worker." Ricky said as she looked at the papers.

"Just pray that he survives dinner with my father tonight." Rory said with a laugh.

"Christopher is harmless." Ricky replied.

"Most of the time, but chicken butt here wouldn't tell him the news over the phone." Lucy said with a laugh.

"Isn't that how he told you he got married?" Ricky asked.

"No that's how he told me Sherry left him and you can't blame him I was in California." Rory replied. "By the way you two might want to clear your calendars for the week of July 16th." Rory said with a smile.

"I can't believe you picked a date already." Lucy said as she looked at Rory.

"That's soon are you sure you want it that soon?" Ricky asked.

"He wanted to get married right that second this is the perfect comprise." Rory replied.

* * *

Jess just looked around the little bookstore that him and his friends worked so hard to get up and running. "By the way the store is closed on July 16th." Jess said as he walked up to Matt and Josh who were fighting over where to place a book.

"What caused you to make that decision?" Josh asked as he looked at Jess.

"The fact that I need you two to be at my wedding." Jess replied the other two just nodded.

"By the way Meghan wanted to know if you gal pal would sign her CD." Josh said as he looked at Jess. Meghan was Josh's girlfriend of two years. Josh went off on him as soon as he got back from Stars Hallow going on about how now Meghan is going to want to get married.

"She can ask Rory on Friday." Jess said as he looked over at the box of books. He picked one copy up and took a good look at his name right there under the title. He was wondering how Rory would react to the fact that he actually wrote a book in the year they were apart. Sure he told her about how he was writing for an online magazine now, but he wanted this to be a surprise for her.

* * *

Chris looked back at Gigi who was fast asleep in her car seat before looking forward at the mess of traffic he had got himself into. Before he picked up the phone that was lying on the seat next to him. "What do I do if I hate him?" He asked into the phone.

_"Chris he is the boy in love with your daughter." _Lorelai said on the other line. _"You are bound to hate him." _

"You're not helping here." Chris said as he looked at the road in front of him.

_"What he is the same guy that Rory gave up Yale for, the same guy who wrecked her car into a tree and broke her wrist? You are going to hate him." _Lorelai said on the other line.

"Where is the but in this?" Chris asked.

_"But, you will see how much you love Rory and how happy she is with him. And suddenly you won't want to string the little ass by his neck."_ Lorelai finished.

"I guess you're right." He said.

_"I always am, tell Rory I love her."_ Lorelai said before she hung up.

* * *

"Do you ever wonder be like if your parents got married when you were a baby?" Lucy asked as the two of them walked down the street.

"Not really I always just took my mom's word that it wouldn't work and we were better off." Rory said as she looked at Lucy. "I mean it took me running away to California to even get a weakly call from the man. There is still a lot of stuff to get over, years that can't be made up."

"He is here now, right?" Lucy asked.

"Yeah." Rory replied.

"By the way my dad wanted to make sure he was going to get an invitation to the wedding of the closest thing he has to a daughter that isn't a disappointment." Lucy said as they stopped at a coffee cart.

"You think out of five daughters he could find one to be proud of." Rory said as she looked at Lucy. "Not to mention your brother Toby is practically another daughter."

"Well, I have that tattoo that he just can't seem to get over." Lucy said with a laugh.

"Well, tell him of course he will be invited. You can't just ignore a six foot tall man who carries a gun everywhere he goes." Rory replied.

"That's very typical in Texas." Lucy replied as she rolled her eyes at Rory.

"I just find it all very Dallas." Rory replied.

"Don't forget you promised to spend Easter in Texas with the whole bunch of them." Lucy said with a smile. "Just don't let Jess where his Yankee's shirt, they might shoot him right there on the spot." She said with a laugh.

"Lucy don't laugh that isn't funny, it's true." Rory replied.

* * *

Rory was looking out her apartment window watching for her father. When her phone started to ring, she looked at the screen to see that it was her father. "Hey." She said into the phone as she answered.

_"Can you buzz us up?"_ Chris asked on the other line.

"Yeah hold on." She said as she ran a crossed the room. "Okay there you go." She said as she pressed the button.

_"See you in a minute." _Chris said as before he hung up. It was more than a few minutes later there was a knock at her door.

"It's nice to see you kid." Chris said as Rory opened the door. "Are we still waiting for your guy friend?" Chris asked as he walked in carrying Gigi.

"No he is going to meet us at the restaurant." Rory said as she sat down on the sofa. "I wanted to talk to you alone first." She said as she patted the seat next to her.

"Please don't let the next words out of your mouth be: I'm pregnant." He said as he sat down next to her sitting Gigi down. She just went to play with the dogs.

"No, no, trust me you're not even close." She said as she looked at her father. "Dad, Jess asked me to marry him." She said as she looked at him for a moment. "And I said yes."

"You're engaged. You're engaged to the boy who caused you to give up Yale." Chris said as he looked around the room. "Okay, let me see that ring." He said as he put on a fake smile. She just held out her hand to him. "Fancy." He said as he looked at it.

"Yeah." She said as she looked at him. "So, clear your calendar for July 16th." Rory said with a smile.

"Isn't that soon, that's like barely six months." Chris said as he looked at his daughter.

"I don't want to sit here and wait years for this." Rory said as she looked at him. "Just be okay with it for me, please Dad." She said softly.

"Anything for you kid." He said as he hugged his daughter.

* * *

Jess sat at a table for four for what seemed like forever before he finally saw Rory and her father. "Jess this is my dad and Gigi." Rory said as she sat down next to him.

"Nice to meet you." Jess said as he looked at Chris.

"I guess I should be saying welcome to the family." Chris replied as he picked up the menu.

"I thought we were going to tell him together?" Jess asked her.

"I just needed to do it alone. You understand right?" She asked him.

"Yeah, but you are still calling Jimmy and telling him." Jess replied.

"Who's Jimmy?" Chris asked.

"Jess's dad." Rory answered.

"The one that you went to live with causing my daughter to leave the state." Chris replied.

"Yeah that's him." Jess replied. Chris just huffed.

"It's going to be a long night." Rory mumbled to herself.


	9. Chapter 9

Lorelai woke up to the sound of her phone ringing. She found it odd how Luke could sleep through the noise as she walked a crossed the tiny apartment. "Hello." She said into the phone as she looked at the clock that read four a.m.

_"I think I messed things up." _She heard the voice on the other line say.

"Chris do you know what time it is?" She asked as she sat down on what used to be Jess's bed.

_"Did you know that she is engaged?" _He asked on the other line. _"Why am I even asking of course you knew there is a giant banner in the middle of your town square." _He huffed.

"Chris where are you?" She asked him.

_"In your living room. I let myself in when I noticed you weren't home." _Chris answered.

"Just stay where you are." Lorelai said as she hung up. She walked over to Luke and shook him awake.

"Lorelai what's going on?" Luke asked as he looked at her.

"Chris is freaking out about the whole engagement thing and has currently broken into my house, so I have to deal with this." Lorelai explained. "I love you." She said as she leaned down to kiss his cheek before she ran out of the apartment still in a pair of Luke's pajamas with no shoes on.

* * *

Rory looked at Jess who was sitting on the sofa typing away. "You still look mad." She said as she moved the laptop from his lap.

"I am trying really hard not to be." He said as he pulled her down onto his lap.

"I bet I can cheer you up." Rory said as she smiled at him.

"Oh really how?" He asked her.

"I have been thinking about the wedding…" She said with a smile before he cut her off.

"Oh so you're not going to dump me like your father suggested." Jess said as he looked at her.

"You're not getting rid of me that fast." Rory said as she looked at Jess. "No, I was thinking about how we can't have a boring church wedding. We aren't that type of couple."

"Let me guess you want to get married underwater." He said with a laugh.

"No, but you are pretty close." She replied.

* * *

"Breaking and entering is still illegal in Stars Hallow for your information." Lorelai said as she walked in her front door. She looked at Chris who was staring at a cup of coffee. "What did you do?" She asked as she sat down next to him.

"At one point in the night I might have told her to dump his ass and move back to California." Chris answered.

"Oh Christopher." Lorelai said as she looked at him.

"I tried Lore. I tried to act happy, but I just snapped when they started talking about inviting Jimmy and did you know that she has a secret Texas family?" He asked her.

"Lucy's family isn't a secret and Big Bill loves her almost as much as we do. And Jimmy is Jess's father and you have to except the fact that he is going to be around." She replied.

"It just doesn't feel right, Lore. Aren't these things supposed to feel right?" He asked.

"It feels right to Rory and that's all that matters." She said as she hugged him.


	10. Chapter 10

_Chris was on his way to work when he got the phone call that every parent fears. Lorelai was on the other line in a frantic mess. "Rory runaway to California." She said on the other line. _

_ "Lore this isn't a funny joke, put Rory on the phone." He said. _

_ "It isn't a joke Chris. She took off sometime yesterday." Lorelai said on the other line. _

_ "Why would she do something so stupid?" He asked. _

_ "Jess, Chris. She left to find Jess." He took a U-turn right that second and drove towards Connecticut trying to process what happened. _

Chris woke up to see Lorelai pacing around the house with the phone glued to her ear and a wide awake Gigi in her arms. "No mom I don't know what Rory has planned for tonight." She said into the phone as she looked at Chris. "Yes it would be horrible to be wearing a nice dress in a karaoke bar." She said as she placed Gigi on the sofa with Chris. "Well, mom I think it has been proven that Rory is unpredictable so just pick something you like and pray to god she doesn't take you to a tranny bar." Lorelai said before hanging up the phone. "Well, I have to get going. Try not to be here when I get home." She said as she grabbed her coat and purse off the car that sat in the corner of the room.

"Thanks for everything Lore." Chris said as he looked at her.

"Yeah, well when you go through this with Gigi you're all on your own." She said as she looked at him before walking towards the front door.

* * *

Rory just smiled as she walked into the small Brooklyn book store that she got the address from Luke. She saw Jess sitting behind the cash register fighting with a customer about not carrying 'stupid books'. "I don't care if it is a New York Times bestseller. Vampires don't sparkle; therefore go to a different store." Jess said as he smiled over at Rory.

"Isn't the point of owning your own store to not send customer's other places?" Rory asked as she walked up to him after the customer left.

"You know Luke didn't mention that during his lectures about responsibility and the need for an accountant." Jess replied.

"Of course not then he would have to stop throwing Kirk out by the collar of his shirt and that is just too good of entertainment to give up on." Rory replied with a laugh. "So what's a must have in this place?" She asked him.

"That you don't already own. Well, there is a great selection of Hemingway over there." He said as he pointed over to the corner.

"Ah I think I will pass on the painful Hemingway." She said as she looked at him as another man around their age came up to her.

"So, this is the fiancé?" He asked as he looked at Rory.

"Yes, Josh this is Rory. Care not to look at her like a science project gone wrong." Jess said as he looked at his friend and co-worker.

"Hold on I will be right back." Josh said as he walked away.

"Stars Hallow doesn't seem so bad at the moment." Rory said as she looked at Jess.

"Here take these and thank you for ruining my life." Josh said as he came back in the room with a stack of bridal magazines.

"You're welcome." Rory said as she looked at him. "Can you leave yet?" She asked Jess.

"MATT I AM LEAVING!" Jess yelled before he grabbed his coat and headed towards the door with Rory.

"So, are all your friends that weird?" Rory asked him.

"Pretty much." Jess answered. "But, he just saved us a fortune in bridal magazines." He said with a laugh as they walked down the street.

"Look who is Mr. Positive today." Rory said as she looked at him.

"Yeah, well I already know that your grandparents hate me." He said as he wrapped his arm around her waist.

"At least you don't have a black eye this time." Rory said as she smiled at him.

"That is until you tell them. I might not have a head after that." He replied. "So where are we meeting the lovely Gilmore's at?" He asked.

"Their hotel." Rory answered.

* * *

"We are going to have to move." Jess said as they sat down on the sofa in the lobby of the hotel that Richard and Emily were staying. "Your apartment isn't big enough for me and you and the dogs. I still live with Matt so we have to move." He said as he looked Rory.

"You would be moving anyway, so what is the difference between moving into my place or a new place?" Rory asked him.

"Nothing I guess… you hate New York." He said as he looked at her.

"Listen Luke Jr. we can figure this out. We can get a crap apartment in every state either of us have ever lived in if you will calm down." Rory said as she cuddled up to her side.

"I really hated California." He said as he looked at her.

"So, we won't move to California. My mother will love you for that." She said with a smile.

"Rory!" She looked up to see her grandparents coming towards her.

"Grandma, grandpa I have missed you so much." Rory said as she took time to hug each of them. "You both remember Jess, right?" She asked as she looked at him standing behind her.

"Ah yes, I seem to remember a teenage punk showing up at my house with a black eye." Emily said as she looked at Jess.

"Well, we both have done a lot of growing up so hopefully this will go much differently." Rory said as she looked at her grandmother and pulled Jess to her side.

"Rory what is that on your finger?" Her grandfather asked as he noticed the ring on her finger. She didn't have a chance to answer before Emily grabbed her hand.

"Oh my god, your engaged." Emily said as she looked at the ring.

"We were going to tell you at dinner. And I swear it's not like we were hiding it from you. It just happened Saturday and I wanted to tell you face to face." Rory mumbled as she looked like a deer in headlights.

"I can honestly say we told you before my parents." Jess chimed in waiting for their reaction.

"I have the perfect wedding planner to call." Emily said as she hugged her granddaughter.

"A wedding planner?" Rory asked.

"You don't think you can do this all by yourself do you?" Emily asked.

"I haven't really thought about it." Rory replied as she looked at Jess.

"We will call her tomorrow. Tonight we have dinner." Emily said with a smile.


	11. Chapter 11

Rory look around the little restaurant that she had chosen to bring her grandparents to. She looked over at the table a crossed from them to see the young couple sitting there staring back at her. "So, Jess what do you do for a living?" Richard asked causing Rory to look back at her grandfather.

"I own a book store in Brooklyn with a couple of friends." Jess answered.

"Trucheon Books you really should check it out sometime." Rory finished for him with a smile.

"I will try to." Richard said as he looked at his granddaughter.

"So, how long are you two in New York for?" Jess asked as he looked down at his plate.

"Just until Friday." Emily answered.

"That's a shame we are having a big party at the bookstore Friday night." Jess replied. "A way to celebrate surviving six months." Jess added.

"We will try to make it." Emily said as she looked at Richard. "So, Rory how is that lovely friend of yours doing… Lucy right?"

"She's great she will be meeting up with us later on." Rory answered.

"How nice?" Emily replied.

* * *

Lorelai walked into Luke's Diner with her cell phone held up to her ear. "Yeah well I have to call you later they don't allow cell phones here." Lorelai said as she hung up the phone. "You evil man, why did you give your sister my phone number?" She asked Luke as she sat down at the counter.

"She wants everyone to get together and plan an engagement party for her son and your daughter. And for once I am not included in her use of the word everyone." Luke answered as he placed a cup of coffee in front of her.

"Take my phone and burry it far far away. I am never answering a phone again." She said as she placed her cell phone in front of him.

"That bad of a day?" He asked.

"Well, it started off with Chris breaking into my house and has ended with an hour long conversation with Liz, so what do you think?" She asked him. "But, it's nothing that a big plate of chili fries couldn't fix?" She said with a smile.

"I will get on that." He said as he leaned over the counter and kissed her forehead. He didn't even make it to the kitchen before her phone went off again. He just glared at her as she answered it.

"It's Lucy." She mouthed to him before saying "Hello."

_"There is an extremely tall Stars Hallow resident standing on my door step." _ Lucy said into the phone.

"Who?" Lorelai asked.

_"Dean is on my door step. And he has flowers. Why the hell does he have flowers?" _Lucy asked.

"Lucy where are you?" Lorelai asked.

_"Looking out my kitchen window." _Lucy asked. _"I half to be half way across town in ten minutes to meet Rory." _

"Backdoor?" Lorelai asked.

_"Don't have one." _Lucy answered.

"Then go talk to the idiot." Lorelai said before she hung up. "Dean is camped outside of Lucy's door." She said as she looked at Luke.

"What about Lindsey?" Luke asked.

"They separated." Lorelai informed him.

* * *

"Get off my porch or I will get my gun." Lucy said as she opened the door and walked out to see Dean standing there.

"You own a gun?" He asked as she walked down the stairs.

"I am from Texas everyone in Texas owns a gun." Lucy said as she looked at him before walking away.

"You're from Texas?" Dean asked as he followed her.

"How the hell did you get my address?" Lucy asked as she looked back at him.

"You're in the phone book." Dean answered.

"Why don't you run back to Lindsey?" Lucy asked him.

"You made me see that I don't love Lindsey." Dean answered.

"To damn bad because I will personally cut off your head if you ruin things with Rory and Jess. She is marrying him and you're not going to stop it." Lucy said as she looked at him.

"I don't love Rory either." He said as he looked at her.

"Hell no, no, no,no." Lucy said as she walked away from him.


	12. Chapter 12

The sun rose slowly over the New York skyline. It was the start of a new day. People all over the city were getting ready to move on into a new day, but Dean sat at a table in a small diner looking out the window. He couldn't bring himself to drive back to Stars Hallow. He couldn't get Lucy out of his mind. He had never wanted to know someone so much before…not even his Rory. She wasn't his Rory anymore and for the first time he was okay with that. "Can I get you anything?" The man behind the counter asked him as he looked over at Dean.

"Some more coffee." Dean mumbled as he got up and walked over to the counter his cup in hand. He looked at the back wall there was a picture of an older lady and two younger women. He was so tried he could have that those two were Rory and Lucy. The other man just turned around to look at what Dean was staring at as he placed the cup back on the counter.

"That's my mother and her favorite customers. They come in here two … maybe three times a day. They all became close." The man said as he looked at Dean.

"Just reminds me of someone I knew back home." Dean mumbled before he walked over to his table.

He had just about convinced himself to drive back to Stars Hallow where he belonged when the door in front of him opened up. He was in shock of what he saw. There walking over to the counter was the girl that he can't get out of his head.

"I need a huge cup of coffee and an order of pancakes to go." She said as she talked to the man behind the counter. "Where is Maggie?"

"She stayed home so she wouldn't miss Lore on The View." The man answered. "I am surprised you aren't with her."

"No her grandmother took my place so I am heading home to sit in my pajamas in front of the television." Lucy said with a laugh before she turned her head to see Dean sitting there. "You just don't give up do you?" She asked as she walked over to him.

"Don't worry I am heading back to Stars Hallow." He said as he looked down at his coffee.

"You look like hell. You didn't sleep last night did you?" She asked him.

"No." He replied.

"I can't believe I am going to do this, but I can't let you drive." She said as she got up. "Come on. You can crash for a while at my place." She finished as she looked at him.

* * *

"Please inform me why the hell you have a two inch television sitting on the counter?" Matt asked as he walked over to Jess who was stocking shelves.

"So I can watch The View." Jess replied as he looked over at his friend.

"Okay we need to have an intervention. This chick has you watching The View." Matt replied.

"She's going to be on the show." Jess said as he moved back towards counter.

"There is a Richard Gilmore on the phone!" One of the other men yelled at Jess.

* * *

Lucy sat on her sofa watching Dean slowly walk around the apartment. "Big family." He said as he held one of the pictures up that she had sitting on a book shelf. It was one of her, her mother, her oldest sister Mary, her oldest two children Joshua and Victoria, and her brother Toby.

"That's only a small portion of them." She replied as the phone started to ring. He put the picture back as she grabbed the phone. "Hello." She said into the phone.

_"I am on my way to look at houses in Connecticut." _The voice on the other line said in a panic tone.

"Wait you and Rory are moving back to Connecticut?" She asked as she looked at Dean trying to comprehend what Jess was telling her.

_"Richard and Emily want to help us buy a house near them for the children. Who brought children into this?" _He asked.

"Why did you call me about this for?" She asked simply.

_"I didn't want to bug Rory." _He answered.

"Well, what is it going to hurt to just look at houses." She said as she looked at Dean who was wondering down the hall now. "Look I have some problems of my own right now so just talk to Rory when she gets home." She said before she hung up and walked down the hallway. She looked at Dean who was looking into her bedroom. "Can I help you?" She asked him. He just shrugged. "Rory's going to be on soon so why don't you come and relax in the living room."

* * *

Jess stood outside an home just miles from Stars Hallow with Richard and his real-estate agent, Edward. It was the second one that Richard had drug him to. Sure he figured that Rory and him would move after the wedding, but they were talking about a larger apartment in the city. Yet, standing outside the large white house with a huge wrap around porch he knew how much Rory would love this place. It was everything she used to talk about. "The owner built this house for his late wife and is looking for a nice young family to take it off his hands." Edward said causing Jess to take his eyes off the house. "The house has four bedrooms, three and a half baths, and a finished basement."

"What about the rest of the property?" Richard asked as he looked at the real-estate agent.

"The property sits on ten acres that house a stable, a barn, a lake, a couple smaller ponds, a guest house, and three car garage. Now I was informed that you were interested in a property in Stars Hallow and this is not. But, if you talk to the town selectman with a financial contribution he will change the borders." Edward answered as he looked at Jess. He was hung up on the ten acres part. He had never owned anything in his life. Only ever lived in little apartments. He couldn't imagine what it would be like to have ten acres.

"Taylor might go for that he like Rory." He said as he started to freak out in his head. As they walked through the house it became more perfect. He knew Rory would have already signed the papers. They walked out the back to see the perfect little entertaining spot and a little further there was a fence. "What's that?" He asked.

"The pool. The owner put the fence up to keep the dogs from jumping in." The real-estate agent informed him. The dogs he didn't even think about them. They would love being able to run around and not being stuck in a building most the time.

"I can tell you like this place." Richard said as he looked at Jess.

* * *

"Nine." Dean said shocked as he looked at Lucy. "I guess everything is bigger in Texas." He finished with a laugh.

"My mother wanted more children, so when I was twelve she took in my aunts three kids." Lucy replied as she looked at him. "So, to me I have eleven siblings."

"Wow, I hate having two. I would have went nuts." He replied with a smile.

"It wasn't that bad. I always had someone to play with when I was little, someone to talk to when I got older, someone to cover for me when I sink out of the house." She said as she looked at the television which had been muted after they watch Rory.

"If you liked it why did you leave?" He asked knowing that she had to leave home at some point. After all she met Rory in California.

"I was a stupid teenager in love." She replied as she laid her head back on the sofa. "I thought I could make everything perfect."

"But, you couldn't? I mean you're here alone." He said searching for answers.

"You know as well as I do that teenagers shouldn't rush into things." She replied softly. She looked at him and noticed that he already took his wedding band off. "You already took your ring off. Must have been ready to get away."

"It's been over for a while now." He said as he looked at his hand.

"Realizing that was the hardest part for me." She replied softly.

* * *

Rory was sitting in her apartment looking at the costume that Taylor shipped her to wear for the Winter Carnival. "There is no way I am going to wear this." She mumbled to herself as she looked at the dress.

"Ror open up!" She heard Jess yell as he knocked on the door. She opened it up to see him standing there with a huge smile on his face.

"You look happy." She said as he flew passed her. He went over to the fridge and grabbed a bottle of wine that Rory had stored up there. He grabbed two glasses and placed them on the table. "What's going on?" She asked him.

"We are celebrating." He said as he handed her a full glass.

"Celebrating what?" She asked him puzzled.

"I just bought us a house or started the process of buying us a house." He said with a smile.

"You bought a house!" She said shocked.

"With land." He replied before he took a drink. "Ten acres and a horse, but we won't own the horse. Mr. Bradley just wants us to house his Bluebell so he can come and visit her."

"Wait where are you going to put the horse?" She asked him.

"In the stable or if you want to use that for something else then the barn." Jess said as he looked at her. "And when Lucy wants to stay she can stay in the guest house, so I don't have to listen to her all the time. And we can stock the lake with fish for Luke." He went on.

"There's a lake?" She asked.

"And a couple of ponds." He replied.

"This sounds like a lot." She said as she sat down on one of the barstools.

"I know it does, but you will fall in love with it when you see it." He said as he looked at her. "This is what we want Rory a life together. Forever." He said as he moved in to wrap his arms around her.

"I know. Just don't go buying any more houses without me." She said as she wrapped her arms around him.

"Deal." He replied with a laugh.


	13. Chapter 13

Jess found himself sitting at Rory's kitchen counter waiting for her to finish getting ready. He just smiled to himself as he thought about how many more times he would be doing this in his life time. "Those Gilmore Girls have their own sense of time." Richard Gilmore told him earlier in the week. He had already known that. Rory was a perfectionist and she was going to take her time, even if they had to go all the way a crossed the city. He just looked down at the book that he had wrapped up to give her. He still wasn't sure what her reaction would be, but he couldn't wait.

"Hey babe what color of tie are you wearing!" Rory yelled from the bathroom. He just looked down for a moment.

"I'm not wearing one!" He called back to her.

"Okay now which ones?" She asked as she came into the room holding two pairs of heels, a black pair and a red pair. He just looked at her trying to figure out what to say. "See the red ones say young, funky. But, the black ones say classy and mature." She said as she walked closer to him.

"Go with the black." He said as he looked at her and smiled. She just smiled as she put on the black heels before walking over to him.

"Do I look like the fiancé of a bookstore owner?" She asked as she thrilled around for him.

"Spitting image of one." He replied with a laugh as he grabbed the wrapped book from behind him. "I got you something." He said as he waved the package in front of her.

"A present! I am starting to like you more and more." She said with a laugh as she took it from him and started to unwrap it. "It's a book." She said as she looked up at him confused before looking back at the book. "The Subsect … by Jess Mariano." She read the cover. "You wrote a book?" She asked as she smiled.

"I wrote a book." He replied as he watched her.

"I love you." She said before she wrapped her arms around his waist and pulled him into a kiss.

"As much as I love this part, we need to get going. It would be rude to be any later to a party that is being thrown for me." He said as he pulled away from her. "Just keep thinking, what you're thinking." He mumbled to her.

"I have no choice." She replied as she smiled at him.

* * *

She didn't understand why she did it. She was supposed to be in Brooklyn toasting her best friend's fiancé for actually doing something with his life. But, she wasn't there. She was a rotten friend for that. She wasn't even sure what convinced her to drive two and a half hours to sit in her car staring at the restaurant. She could see him inside waiting for her. She could tell that he knew she was running late. 'Mistakes are choices that you would have regretted if you didn't take.' She thought about those words that her mother told her years ago as she got out of the van. She looked up at the Al's Pancake World sign. "Lucy dear it's so nice to see you." Ms. Patty said as she walked up to Lucy.

"Yeah, well you know the Hallow is like a second home for me." She replied with a laugh.

"Is Rory with you dear?" Patty asked.

"No, she is coming down later with Jess. He had some fancy book party. Did you know that he wrote a book?" Lucy asked her as she looked back at Al's.

"I always thought Rory would be the writer out of the two. But, I will make sure to pick up a copy." Patty said before she walked away. "See you tomorrow night dear!" She called to Lucy. She started to open the door when he looked up and smiled at her. 'That's why you did this' she told herself as she walked into the restaurant.

"I was starting to think that you bailed on me." He said as she sat down and smiled as she got lost in his brown eyes for a moment.

"Yeah, I just feel bad for bailing out on the party. I mean it's a big deal when someone you know writes a book." Lucy said as she looked down at the table for a moment. "But, I have never been much of a book worm." She finished as she looked up.

"I am glad you came." He replied as he looked at her. "So, what do you want?" He asked as she looked at the menu.

"I'm not sure. I am still trying to process a pancake house selling Chinese food." She answered.

* * *

Jess couldn't help but to smile at the sight of Rory sitting there reading his book as everyone around was enjoying the little get together. "You do know that you don't have to read that right now?" He asked her as he pulled up a chair and sat in front of him.

"I wanted to. I have to know what I am going to be telling everyone I am so proud of is about." She replied with a smile.

"There are so many things I would change in it." He said as took the book from her.

"Like what?" She asked.

"I would keep the front cover and throw everything else out." He answered with a laugh.

"Don't do that to yourself. It's great." She replied as she leaned in closer to him.

"Oh look Luke there are our kids about to do it in the middle of a party!" Lorelai exclaimed as her and Luke walked up to the couple.

"Later." Jess mumbled to her before they stood up to look at the couple that approached them.

"Hi mom." Rory said as she smiled awkwardly at her mother.

"Hello offspring. Offspring's lover." Lorelai replied with a smile. "So, I heard a funny rumor around town that you two bought a house." Lorelai said as she looked at her daughter.

"I haven't even seen it." Rory replied as her face turned red.

"Huh?" Lorelai replied as she looked at her daughter.

"I bought as a surprise for Rory." Jess explained. "But, I think you all will love it."

* * *

Lucy smiled as her and Dean walked out of the warm comfort of the restaurant into the snow. "I bet you take the snow for granted." She said as she looked over at him. "But, before this year I have never really been around snow, so it's so different and nice."

"You have spent too much time around Lorelai." He replied with a laugh. "You know she swears she can smell snow."

"She can it's her talent." Lucy replied with a smile. "That and witty come backs. That woman is never left speechless." She looked around the small town shops that where all closed up.

"True." Dean replied as he looked at her.

"Ms. Patty hasn't closed up yet?" Lucy asked as she passed the dance studio.

"She's probably setting up for tomorrow." Dean explained.

"Let's help." Lucy said as she pulled him up the stairs.

* * *

All that he could see was the snow falling gently on the Stars Hallow streets by the light of the street lamps and Luke's headlights from behind him. It was late. Late enough that most towns would have shut down by now. Therefore Stars Hallow was a ghost town. He looked over at his fiancé who was using a book light as she wrote something in the book he had gave her earlier in the night. "What are you doing?" He asked her.

"I just wanted to write some notes in the margins for you." She said as smiled at him.

"You do know that you are crazy right?" He asked as he turned into the driveway of the Gilmore's house. They didn't have enough time to be able to get a room at the Dragonfly. The last room went to Lucy, therefore they would be staying this trip in Rory's old room.

"Of course I do, but you wouldn't love me if I wasn't." She said as he parked the car.

"You go on in. I'll get the bags." He said as he looked at her. She just looked back at the dogs sleeping in the back seat. "And the dogs."

"I'll keep your side of the bed warm." She said as she leaned in and kissed him before getting out of the car.

"You two are sleeping on the sofa." He said as he looked back at the dogs who had sat up after Rory slammed the door.

* * *

Rory couldn't help, but to smile as she walked into her childhood room. Everything was still the same. Her books were sitting perfectly on the shelf. Her Chilton uniform was still draped over the chair that sat in front of her desk. "Time has stood still in this room." She told Jess as she saw him standing in the doorway.

"It sure seems that way." He said as he dropped the bags and shut the door. "But, we could make some new memories in this room." He said as she started to rummage through the bags.

"My mother is right upstairs." She replied as she glared at him before disappearing out of the room with a pair of pajamas and her toothbrush.

* * *

Jess found himself sitting on her tiny bed waiting for her to come back in the room. He could hear her talking to Lorelai outside the door. He looked over at the nightstand where she had put the book that she was writing in during the drive. He just picked it up. There on the dedication page under his message to her she had written something for him.

_Trying to live in love_

_With a heart that can't be broken_

_Is like trying to see the light_

_With eyes that can't be opened_

_Yeah we both carry baggage_

_We picked up on our way_

_So, if you love me_

_Do it gently _

_And I will do the same_

He just smiled as he realized what this was. It was lyrics to a song that he had never heard before and he had a good ideal that no one else had either.

_We may shine_

_We may shatter_

_We made be picking up the pieces_

_Here on after_

_We are fragile _

_We are human_

_We are shaped by the light_

_That we let through us_

_We break fast_

_Because we are glass_

_Cause we are glass _

"I know it's no book." Rory said as she came in the room to see him sitting there reading her words. "But, it is all for you." She finished as she crawled into bed next to him.

"You know I love you right?" He asked her as he closed the book putting it back on the nightstand before reading the rest of the words. She just nodded as she placed her head on his chest.

"I love you." She whispered just loud enough for him to hear. It was just another perfect moment that he added to the list that was growing each day. It was clear that they were completely in love with each other. No one could tell either of them differently.

**A/N: The song is Glass by Thompson Squared. I highly encourage you to check it out. I felt like it fit them so well. **


	14. Chapter 14

Rory woke up to the sound of her alarm clock. She rolled over to find the other side of the bed was empty. She just sat up in a panic before she saw the note laying on the night stand next to her.

_Ror, _

_Good morning, get dressed. When you're ready I will be outside waiting for you with coffee._

_Love, _

_You're Dodger_

She knew he was up to something, but it became clearer that he was when she walked out to the kitchen to find her mother sitting at the table smiling ear to ear. She didn't even bother to ask what was going on knowing good in well Lorelai wasn't going to tell her. So, she just hurried to get dressed. "Wear the red coat." Lorelai said as she watched her daughter walk towards the door.

"Okay." Rory said as she grabbed the red coat before walking out the front door. Sure enough Jess was standing in the middle of the yard with two cups of coffee. "What are you up to?" She asked him as she walked over to him.

"What makes you think I am up to something?" He asked as he handed her a coffee.

"You're you. You are always up to something." She replied before she took a drink of her coffee.

"Just look that way." He replied as he pointed to Babette's house. He wished he had a camera to capture the way her face lite up when she turned to see a horse drawn sleigh heading towards them.

"You know every man in town is going to hate you for setting standards to high." She replied as she looked at him.

"They already hate me and I love seeing you happy." He replied as he led her to the sleigh. "But, I am not jumping into this thing like before." He added as she watched her get up on the seat.

"Getting too old there Mariano?" She asked as he sat down next to her.

"If I say yes do I get out of square dancing at this barn dance thing tonight?" He asked as they started to move.

"Not a chance." She replied as she cuddled up to his side. "Everyone is starring at us." She whispered to him.

"They always are." He replied softly. "So, I bet your grandmother cries when you tell her you want to get married on the bridge." He said as he looked at her.

"She'll just have to cry because I want it to reflect us." She replied. "You're going to look like a really great guy if this ends up in the tabloids." Rory said as they passed Gypsy who was running alongside them with her camera.

"That's just an added bonus." He replied.

* * *

"Seriously start taking notes from your nephew mister." Lorelai said as she sat down at the counter of Luke's.

"Ah, so that was them." Luke replied as he handed her coffee.

"He is taking her to see the house." Lorelai replied. "Buy me a house." She added as she looked up at him.

"I'll buy you a house if you stop drinking coffee." Luke said as he looked at her.

"I choose coffee." She mumbled to him.

"I knew you would."

* * *

Rory was shocked when the sleigh stopped in front of a large white house with a wraparound porch. She just looked over at Jess and smiled. "It looks like a postcard." She said as she looked at him.

"You thinking about Christmas cards aren't you?" He asked as he moved a piece of hair behind her ear.

"We need rocking chairs." She mumbled as she hugged him.

"I will get right on that." He replied. He has helping her out of the sleigh when her phone started to ring.

"It's my grandmother." She said as she looked at it.

"Call her back." He replied as he looked at the phone.

"I have to answer, she doesn't just call." She said as she opened the phone. "It will just be a minute." He just leaned up against the fence as he watched her talk on the phone. Everything seemed fine until he saw the first tear fall. He just moved closer to her. "We need to get to Hartford." She said through her tears. "I need turtleneck soup." She mumbled as she latched on to him in a hug.

"Rory what's wrong?" He asked as he looked at her.

"Gran's dead." She replied softly.

* * *

Lorelai was getting ready to leave Luke's when Lucy came in looking as if she ran the whole way there. "Luce what is going on?" She asked as she looked at the young woman who had become like a daughter to her.

"Rory and Jess are on their way to your parents' house. Trix is gone." Lucy said as she placed her hand on Lorelai's shoulder.

"What do you mean she is gone?" Lorelai asked.

"They found her this morning in her bed, she died last night." Lucy said as she looked at Lorelai. It was clear that she was in shock.

* * *

"She is the only one that came to see me when I was in California." Rory said as she looked over at Jess who was driving her all around Hartford looking for the turtle soup for her grandfather. He had never met the woman that she was talking about before. He only remembered her coming to visit once while he was with Rory before. But, it was clear that this was one of the things that he missed. He just looked over at the love of his life. It killed him to see her so upset. "She was traveling around with Guss and she stopped to see me. I was living in this tiny little house with Lucy, Ava, and Collin. Ty was sleeping on our sofa at the time, but she didn't care. The place was crap. We had no money. We had eggs and ten boxes of Pasta Roni to eat. But, she was proud of me." Every tear that fell down her face killed a part of him.

"She would be dumb not to be." Jess mumbled as he looked over at her.

"I didn't even tell her that we were back together. I was afraid she wouldn't take it well." She replied as she looked down. "Now I will never get tell her."

"I am sure she knows." He replied softly.

**A/N: I know that in the show this came earlier, but for the sake of this story I am putting it in here. Let me know what you think. **


	15. Chapter 15

A short blonde woman burst into a small Venice Beach Bookstore. She had a phone up to her ear as she struggled to push a stroller into the store. She walked up to the counter in a daze. But, the person she needed wasn't there. "Collin!" She just started screaming as she walked through the store until she finally found the man she was looking for.

"Ava, what's wrong?" He asked as he ran to meet her. "Is something wrong with Mase?" He asked as he looked down at his sleeping son sitting in the stroller.

"You have to close up or call someone to take over." She replied as she looked around.

"Sweetie what's going on?" He asked as he looked at her. Another man came across the room to see what was going on. He was a family friend of the couple.

"Lucy called … Trix is dead." The woman said as she looked up at her husband of seven months. "That woman did everything she could for us." She replied as she looked down at the phone. "We need to get to Connecticut."

"How is Rory holding up?" He asked as he wrapped his arms around her.

"Lucy didn't say. She just wanted to let us know." Ava said as she started to cry there in the middle of the store.

"Lucy is in Connecticut?" The other man asked as he looked at them. Neither of them said anything before he opened his mouth again. "You two go; I will watch the place until Joni comes in."

* * *

Jess practically ran into the Gilmore house hold with a takeout bag in hand. "Deli number thirteen was the charm." He said as he found Lorelai sitting in the kitchen. "Although it's not turtleneck soup, but after talking to the self-proclaimed soup king of Hartford I am pretty sure that he meant mock turtle soup." Jess said as he placed the bag in front of her.

"You're like a super hero." Lorelai said as she smiled up at him as she grabbed the bag. "I have to go try to get him to eat something." She said as she got up. "Rory is upstairs with mom trying to track down a hundred year old pastor, if you want to see how she is doing." Lorelai replied as she walked passed him. He just nodded at her. "Rory is lucky to have someone so great." She said as she placed a hand on his shoulder before disappearing.

* * *

Dean sat outside of Patty's waiting for Lucy. She was almost a half an hour late, but for some reason he just sat there waiting. "You know what Taylor I am so sorry that her grandmother couldn't hold out another day for your sake!" Lucy yelled as she came running down the street chasing Taylor Doose.

"We had an agreement, how in the world am I supposed to find someone who can sing like she can. I will have to cancel the fundraiser. Stars Hallow does not cancel fundraisers." Taylor said as he looked at her.

"I will sing tonight if you need someone that bad. I am not Rory, but I swear I am better than turkey calling dogs." Lucy replied before she mouthed 'sorry' of Taylor's shoulder to Dean. He just got up and walked away. Somehow Rory still managed to be a part of everything. "NO I AM NOT GOING TO DRESS UP LIKE HER! IS EVERYONE IN THIS DAMN TOWN NUTS?" He heard Lucy yelling as he walked away. He was to Luke's before he saw Lindsey. He tried to turn the other way to avoid her, but she just ran after him.

"Dean, stop we need to talk." She said as she finally caught up to him and grabbed his arm.

"Fine talk." He said coldly as he looked at her.

* * *

"We need to check on Guss." Rory said as she looked at Jess as they were almost all the way back to Stars Hallow. "How did I not think to check on Guss? The man was in love with her." Rory said as she looked like she was going to start crying again.

"Okay where do we find Guss?" He asked her as he looked for a place to turn around.

"Hartford, at the house I suppose." She said as she pulled out her phone and started to dial a number.

"Who are you calling?" He asked her as he turned around.

"Guss." She replied softly.

* * *

Lorelai walked up to her front porch to see Luke sitting there on her steps waiting for her. "How are you doing?" He asked as she sat down next to him.

"My father is completely out of it. Rory is trying so hard to hold it together. Emily is having to hold back her joy." She replied as she looked at him. "And I am the reigning Lorelai." She mumbled softly. He just wrapped his arm around her not knowing how to take the words that came out of his girlfriend's mouth. "I need to ask you a favor." She replied as she placed her head on his shoulder.

"What?" He asked.

"I need to stay with you for a while." She replied. "Ava and Collin are coming in for the funeral and we don't have room at the inn. They don't have a lot of money so they could take my room."

"I am just going to pretend that I know who that is. But, you're always welcome at my place." He replied as he looked at her.

* * *

"You know you will never find a better woman than a Lorelai Gilmore." Guss said as he looked at Jess. Rory was sitting on the floor in between them with a million pictures spread out on the table.

"I have kind of figured that out." Jess replied as he placed his hand on Rory's shoulder. He leaned down and picked up one of the pictures and then smiled at Rory. "You look like her." He said as he looked at the picture and then her again.

"This young lady is a little Trix. I swear they couldn't be more alike." Guss replied as he smiled at Rory. "She adored her little Lorelai. In fact she has the videos she talked you out of sitting in the den. She would make everyone that came over watch them."

"That sounds like Gran." Rory replied.


	16. Chapter 16

Jess rolled over to find the other half of the small bed empty. He just sat up and looked around the room. The clock on the nightstand read three forty-five a.m. He walked out into the kitchen and then into the living room looking for Rory. He could hear the creaking from the swing outside as he walked towards the front door. He grabbed his coat as he walked out the door. "You're going to freeze to death out here." He said as he looked at her sitting there curled up on the porch swing. She had her coat on and a thin blanket sitting in her lap. She just looked up at him for a moment. He could tell she had been out here thinking. "Okay, tell me what's on your mind." He said as he wrapped his arms around her pulling her next to him once he sat down.

"I am going to be the last Lorelai Gilmore." She replied softly as she looked up at him. "I never thought that the name was going to die out with me. I never thought about being the last of the Lorelai's." She mumbled softly to him.

"You might be the last of the Gilmore girls, but babe you won't be the last of the Lorelai's. I would bet seven generations down the line there are still Lorelai's." He said to her. She just smiled at him for a moment.

"You think so?" She asked him softly.

"I don't see why there wouldn't be. See the thing about the name is every Lorelai I have ever met or heard about has been this terrific woman. They are the strongest, most daring and caring, independent women anyone could ever know. Why would anyone want to let that die out?" He asked her.

"Lorelai Mariano, sounds nice." She said as she looked back out at the yard.

"It sounds perfect. Just think in less than a year you will be Lorelai Leigh Mariano." He replied as he thought about how perfect that sounded to him. She was going to be Mrs. Lorelai Mariano. The thought made his heart skip a beat.

"And then you are stuck with me forever." She said sweetly as they sat there.

"Well, huh, I guess I am. Lucky me." He replied before he kissed the side of her face.

* * *

Lucy walked out of her hotel room at ten in the morning to see Dean sitting there in the hallway. She could tell something was wrong. She just sat down next to him and waited to hear the words that were about to come out of his mouth. She knew it wasn't going to be anything good. He had the face. The same face that she had always seen right before the end of the good times. She just sat there waiting. She wasn't leaving before she got an explanation. She had learned her lesson before when it came to walking out too soon. "Lindsey is pregnant." Dean finally chocked out. She just nodded as she processed the information before getting up.

"Don't be here when I get back." She replied as she looked down at him one last time before walking away. She made out the inn's front door before she let a tear fall. She thought about her one run in with Lindsey.

_She was on her way back to the inn after the barn dance the night before when Lindsey and her mother walked up to her just passed Luke's. "You … you should be ashamed of yourself. What did she ever do to you?" The mother said making the wicked witch of the west seem nice. "How did she ever hurt you? Why are you doing this?" _

"_Do you ever know what the hell you are talking about? I had nothing to do with him leaving her. I stood here in the town square watching her kicking him out of the freaking apartment. That had nothing to do with me." Lucy replied as she looked at her. She never had taken the time to think about Lindsey in all of this. It was easier not to. _

"_Listen here you little monster. There are hundreds of other men in the world and you have to go after her husband." The mother yelled as people started to watch. _

"_He wasn't happy. Them not working out has nothing to do with me. This is why you don't marry your high school sweetheart. Especially when he never even really loved her. She was a way to make Rory jealous. Did you know that he called her the night before the wedding? He was going to walk out then if she wanted him, but she didn't. So, he settled for someone he knew nothing about really." Lucy replied. She regretted later bring up the one thing that she knew no one knew about. Three people knew about that damn phone call and that's all that needed to know. Yet, she was mad and being attacked so she let it slip out. Not even really thinking about it. _

"_All I know is that my Lindsey is devastated. Dean is back with his parents. Lives were ruined and you can go to hell." Before she knew it the two of them were fleeing. _

"_RIGHT BACK AT YOU!" She yelled as she walked towards the inn. _

She got to Luke's before she felt like she couldn't go any farther. She just walked in and sat down at the counter feeling the eyes on her as she did so. She could hear two of the worst town gossips talking about it all from behind her. "Poor thing is probably devastated." One of them said. "I just can't believe he would finally stand up and leave her, only to give up on his last chance at happiness."

"He is Dean; everyone in town knows he wouldn't abandon a child." The other one said. Lucy just tried to tune them out as she starred at the specials board.

"I would bet money she is lying just to get him back." The first one said as Luke finally walked over to her.

"I am going to kill that bastard." Luke mumbled as he started to pour her a cup of coffee. She just looked up at the clock for a moment.

"Make it to go. I have to go pick up Ava at the airport." She replied weakly.

"Who is Ava?" Luke asked her as he got her a to-go cup from under the counter.

"Friend of ours from California." Lucy answered as she took the coffee and got up. She just looked down as she slowly disappeared out of the diner.

* * *

Rory found herself sitting in her great grandmother's basement with her grandmother going through Gran's important documents as Guss sat upstairs with her mother and Jess. He was the opposite of her grandfather at the moment. He needed to talk. He needed to have people around. Whereas Richard Gilmore has locked himself in his study. "We need to wrap up the bar glasses before the funeral. You're grandfather's cousin Marilyn has been eyeing them for years and I will be damned if she gets them. They are to stay in the family they go to us, then your mother, then you." Emily said as she looked up at her granddaughter.

"Okay." Rory said as she pulled out the next two pieces of paper which were a carbon copy of a letter. She read over the letter as Emily looked over some other papers. After seeing what it was about she folded it up and put it in her pocket without Emily seeing it. Moving on to the next of many incoherent legal documents.

* * *

"You know I would bet money Emily stops helping when she realizes the changes that Lorelai made." Guss said as he led Lorelai and Jess into the den. Lorelai had never met this man before and she wouldn't have been there if Rory had told her that she was going to help her mother go through everything.

"Changes?" She asked as she walked into the room to see a picture of Rory hanging over the fireplace. It was of her sitting leaning up against a pier with the ocean in the background.

"She went in a few months ago and completely changed the will." Guss replied as he looked over at her. Lorelai knew if Gran left everything to this man there was going to be World War III. "She left everything to Rory." He finished as he looked over at the picture. "That was taken when we went to visit her last year." He said as he looked at the picture. Lorelai had no clue that they had went out to California to see her. As far as she knew no one went out to see her then. But, it explained how all of the sudden Gran and Rory were suddenly close.

"Oh." Lorelai replied trying not to seem stupid.

"I think you should have these." He said as he walked over to the bookshelf and took a whole row of video tapes down. "They are of her time in California." He said as he placed them on the desk.

* * *

"Does Liz hate me?" She asked Jess as they drove back home later that night. Her mind was on the letter that she now had sitting on her lap. Jess just laughed for a moment.

"You are kidding right. The woman thinks you are a saint." He replied as he looked over at her for a moment. "What is all of this about?" He asked her.

"This letter I found down in Gran's papers." She said as she held up the letter. "My dearest Richard it is with heavy heart that I write you this letter tonight, but I can't sit around and let you make a terrible mistake." She said as she started to read the letter to him. "Until now I had thought, hoped, prayed that you would come to the same conclusion that I have. But, you have not and therefore I feel it is my duty as your mother to reconsider you impending marriage." She read softly.

"Your grandfather was only married once right?" He interrupted her.

"Yes, but hush up you'll miss the best part." She replied as she looked at him and then the letter again. "I am sure that Emily is a very suitable woman for someone, but not for you. She will not be able to make you happy. She does not have the Gilmore stamina or spark. She is simply not a Gilmore. I don't know the circumstances surrounding your break up with Pena Lyn Lott, but it is still my belief that she is still much more suited for you than Emily. I know the timing of this is particularly awkward since you are to be married tomorrow." She said as she took a moment to pause. "But, your happiness is too important to me, so timing be damned."

"Well, at least she didn't send it." He said as he looked over at Rory.

"No, she did. This is the carbon that she kept in her filing cabinet as if she wanted grandma to find it." Rory replied as she held up the letter.

"No way." He replied with a laugh.

"What are you laughing about?" She asked him.

"Your mother is just like her grandmother. I would bet money you will get one of those letters the night before our wedding." He said with a smile.

"Don't feel so happy about yourself. Your children could have two heads." She replied thinking about the other revelation that came from the day.

"What are you talking about?" He asked her trying not to let it show how crazy he thought she was at the moment.

"Gran's maiden name was Gilmore." She replied as she looked out the window. "Her and grandpa Charles were second cousins." Jess just laughed harder.

"It just figures that someone as smart as you came from inbreeding." He replied with a laugh as her phone went off.

"Lucy wants us to meet her at Luke's." She replied as looked down at her phone.

* * *

Ava sat at the counter of Luke's diner looking around at the dinner rush as she gently moved the stroller in front of her with her foot. She smiled at her husband who was memorizing the menu as Lucy talked both their ears off. "I want pie." Ava said as she looked at Lucy.

"I bet Luke has pie in the back." Lucy said as she smiled at her friend.

"Well, go be good old Lucy and get it." Ava replied with a laugh as she looked out the window. There sitting a crossed the street she saw the same man that she left standing in that Venice bookstore the day before. She just braced herself for the storm that was about to hit as she cheered her friend to sneak in the back of the diner.

* * *

"Oh my god." Rory said as she got out of the car and looked over to the man who was sitting on the Gazebo. He looked the same as the last time she saw him. When he chased Lucy and her down on their way to the airport as they left California behind. He let his light brown hair grow out a little, but that's it.

"Do you know him?" Jess asked as he walked up to her side.

"Yeah." Rory replied as she looked at Jess and then the man sitting there. "That's Ty… Lucy's husband." She mumbled softly before walking towards the diner.

"Wait what?" Jess asked as the shock caught up to him. He had to run to catch up with Rory, but by the time he got to her a short blonde woman had already got to her. He knew from the pictures that she was Ava the friend from California.

"Did you see?" Rory asked her as she sat her coat on the counter.

"Yeah, I don't know what he is doing here." Ava whispered to her.

"Maybe he is going to finally sign. Where is Lucy?" Rory asked.

"Here, and I got pie. And kicked out of Luke's kitchen, but pie." Lucy said as she sat a whole pie down on the counter. "What's going on?" She asked as she looked at her friends.


	17. Chapter 17

Lorelai was sitting in the middle of Luke's apartment. Her back leaning up against the coffee table. She has the pile of video tapes that Guss had given her sitting next to her. She just picked up one and put it in the vcr player in front of her. She had only heard stories about California and inside it killed her that she missed a whole year of her daughter's life. Her and Rory had always been so close, best friends since she was little. But, there was a whole chapter of her daughter's life that was a mystery to her.

The video came on and she Ava and Lucy sitting on a beat up sofa. They had Santa hats on and were smiling ear to ear. _"Okay say something you two." _She heard a voice say from the background. She could tell it was a boy that was all. She had no clue who it was.

"_Merry Christmas." _Ava said simply before getting up. The camera just focused on Lucy.

"_Come on Luce there has to be something going through that pretty little mind of yours."_ The voice said.

"_Ty just leave her alone. She hates Christmas remember. I guess I am going to have to just return that fabulous present I got her." _Lorelai smiled at the sound of Rory's voice before the camera turned to show her. She too had on a Santa hat, but unlike the others she had garland wrapped around her neck.

"_I put on the stupid hate doesn't that count for anything?" _You could hear Lucy say.

Lorelai found herself near tears as she watched the video. Christmas had always been her and Rory's special time, but it probably never would be again. They missed last Christmas. This Christmas she will be focused on Jess and god only knows how long until those to have children. She just sat there watching the tape of Rory's California Christmas crying her eyes out.

* * *

Lucy walked out of Luke's in hopes of running back to the inn before meeting up with everyone else for dinner. But, she only got as far as the end of the steps when she saw him sitting on the Gazebo. She just stood there in shock not sure what to do. She hadn't been this shocked since he had showed up in California. He was the guy she could have loved in high school if she wasn't so blind.

"_You didn't marry him." He had said when she opened the door to her apartment. He was relieved she could tell. "I have thought about running out here, but I didn't want to stand here and feel stupid if my Joni had moved on." He said in a rush bringing her mind back to their favorite song. He had always made fun of her for her love of Conway Twitty, but that song was the one that he could stand. Tears fell down her face as she smiled at him. _

"_I waited for you." She said as he leaned in to kiss her. "Thank you for not waiting five years." She mumbled as they pulled apart. _

It hurt her to remember the happy times she had with him. She really did love him even if he had a tendency to drive her crazy. He was her Dodger, she knew that from the moment Rory first told her that craziness about Dodger.

"_You can't do this!" He yelled at her as he chased her down the street. She was pissed because he was hiding something. She could just tell. "You can't run away everything something goes wrong!" _

"_You don't tell me what I can do! No man will ever tell me what I can do!" She yelled as she turned around to look at him. "We are supposed to be in this thing together and you go around hiding shit from me! That's not how a relationship works bucko!" She screamed as she started to cry. _

"_You really want to know what the big secret was? Fine, here you go. This is what the call was about. This is what Collin was asking about." He said as he pulled a ring box out of his pocket and tossed it at her. She just opened it up and looked at the diamond ring. "I was going to ask you tomorrow on our anniversary. I had it all planned out, I was going to take you down to the beach play our song and then get down on one knee and ask." He said as he looked at her. "Lucy you are the craziest woman I have ever met. You make my heart melt every time I look into those big brown eyes. I love you more than anything in the world. I want to be your husband." He said as he looked at her softly. She just handed him back the box leaving him confused. _

"_You need to get down on one knee before I can say yes." She replied as she smiled at him. He just chuckled as he got down on one knee and looked up at her. _

"_Will you marry me?" He asked as he smiled at her. _

"_Of course I will." She replied softly. _

She rushed into it. That is how she allowed herself to live with the fact that she let the best relationship ever had. They moved up the wedding so her mother could be there and then it wasn't long after she lost her mother than she cracked. Everything was going downhill. She remembered the day she left California for good. It had been two months since she moved back in with Rory, but still he chased them down at the airport.

"_Lucy, please don't get on that plane. I know that you think that we can't work this out, but we can. Just please don't give up on us." He begged her, but she still got on that plane. _

Now she was here unsure of what to do. He just looked over at her. "Lucy!" He called. She just stood there frozen for a moment before running towards the Gilmore house as fast as she could.

* * *

Jess just looked over at Rory as they drove to her childhood home waiting for her to explain what was going on. "Lucy had a meltdown when her mom died. She went off the deep end. She gave up on the college classes she was taking, left her husband. Moving gave her a chance to regroup. She is doing so much better. Everything fixed itself expect for Ty. She keeps pushing him away because she doesn't want to go through the pain of losing him." Rory said as she looked over at him. "Just please be nice about this. I have no clue what is going on."

"What do expect me to be evil about this? Because I am too clueless on this subject to think too much about it." He replied as he parked the car. "So, how are you holding up? The funeral is tomorrow I know that can't be easy on you."

"I … she's watching us. Everything is going to be okay." Rory said as she looked at him. "Thank you for being so great during all of this. I love you, Dodger." She replied before they got out of the car. "We need to get Ricky a gift for watching the dogs for as long as she has." Rory mumbled to him as he held the front door open for her.

"I will get right on that." He said as he watched her. "I know this sounds weird, but I am starting to miss those mutts. Don't tell them that." He added as he hung his coat on the hook that rested by the door.

"They know that you love them. After all once you marry me you will be their adopted daddy." She said as she smiled at him. He just rolled his eyes as he followed her towards her room. "Oh that gives me an ideal." She said as she smiled back at him.

"No dogs in the wedding." He said as he looked at her. "It's bad enough I have to share a bed with them if I want to share a bed with you."

"Fine, no dogs." She replied as she looked at him.

* * *

Luke walked into the diner after closing up to find Lorelai balled up on the sofa crying. "What's going on?" He asked as he sat down next to her.

"I am going to be like Emily. Before I know it I will know nothing about my own daughter." She said as she looked at him.

"Lorelai…" He said before she cut him off.

"I missed a whole year and now she is getting married and she won't need me when she has jess." Lorelai said in a panic.

"She will always need you. I promise." Luke said as he pulled her close to him.


	18. Chapter 18

She stood there not sure what the hell she was thinking. It was freezing out here. Something in her couldn't let him sleep out here. She just reached down and nudged his shoulder. "Wake up you Idiot!" She said as she poked him again. He just opened his eyes and stared up at her puzzled for a moment. "Come on I am taking you to the Gilmore's. You can crash on their sofa for the night." She said as she turned away from him.

"Luce…" He started to say something as he followed her.

"Don't talk okay, I am only doing this because I don't want to wake up and have to deal with a corpose." She replied as she looked at him for a moment. It was silent the rest of the way there. She let him in using the key from the turtle. "Blankets are in the closet. There probably is a pillow too." She said as she opened the door for him. "In the morning Jess might be able to loan you something to wear, you two look about the same size." She muttered before walking away.

* * *

Rory stood in the middle of her room trying to figure out what she could possibly wear to the funeral. She had found the dress that she wore to Fran's in the back of her old closet and that was what she was leaning towards. But, would it offend Gran if she wore the same things she wore to the last funeral she went to. "Okay, I don't want to freak you out, but there is a man asleep on the sofa." Jess said as he walked into the room after taking his shower.

"What the hell are you taking about? Did someone slip you founder's day punch?" She asked him as she walked out into the hallway. She stopped in the doorway of the living room to see Ty there asleep. "God, this brings back memories." She mumbled before she walked over to the sofa. "TY!" She yelled to wake him up. He just shot up and looked at her. "What the hell are you doing in my living room?" She asked.

"Luce let me in. Something about not wanting me to freeze to death." He mumbled back at her.

"Okay, go back to sleep." She replied before she walked back towards her room and Jess.

"Is he going back to California any time soon because I don't think that Lorelai will be so accepting of him crashing here longer than us?" Jess asked as he shut the bedroom and looked at her.

"I have no clue what is going on." She said as she looked at him. "And right now I have other things to worry about than is Lucy going to remain a Hensley or go back to being a Mills." She just glared at him as she spoke.

"Point taken." He replied as he walked over to the closet in search for the suit he wore to the book party. It was the only thing he had with him that was even close to appropriate for this. "After I get dressed I am going to run to the market, stock up on Kleenex." He said as he turned around to look at her.

"That's a good ideal." She said as she looked down at the dresses lying on the bed. "Do you think she would be offended if I wear the dress I wore to Fran's funeral?" She asked as she looked at him.

"I think there is no way in the world you could offend her with that dress. Now if you suddenly decide to wear your mother's porn star t-shirt you might offend her." He said as he tried to lighten the mood. "Then again the woman did ask for The Wall to be played so maybe not." He said as he wrapped his arms around his fiancé.

"There is a story behind that." She said softly as she placed her head on his shoulder.

"Gilmore's have a story for everything." He replied. "Now you have to get dressed." He said as he kissed her forehead before letting go of her.

* * *

Jess walked into the Gilmore's house shocked that someone actually told him to let himself in. He walked into the living room to find Richard coming down the stairs almost dressed. He was fighting with his bow tie and had no shoes on. "Jess what are you doing here?" He asked as he looked up.

"Rory sent me here to check on you. She and Lorelai went to the funeral home to make sure everything was going okay." He said before he paused for a moment. "Let's get that tie tied and find you some shoes." He said before he led the older man up the stairs. He never thought that he would see Richard Gilmore walk around like a lost puppy, but everyone has their moments.

* * *

"I can't believe the Reverend forgot where he was half way through the service." Luke said as he pulled into the Gilmore's driveway after the funeral for the wake that was to follow. He looked over at Lorelai who was holding herself together better than he had expected her to.

"I can he is ninety seven. I was shocked he was even still alive." Lorelai answered as she looked at him. "I don't want to go in there." She said softly.

"Come on, I promise I will get a cold and you can bail half way through." He said as he unbuckled his seat belt. "It's for Rory." He finished.

"Fine." She said as she opened the car door. After about an hour of miggling and hearing stories about her grandmother Lorelai found her daughter sitting out on the patio. "You know the next time most of these people will see each other is going to be your wedding." Lorelai said as she smiled at her daughter. She sat down across from her daughter to notice she had her freak out face on. "What's going on?" She asked.

"I am just freaking about this whole will thing. It's a big thing just to throw at a person. As soon as I go into sign those papers I will be responsible for everything. A house in London, what am I supposed to do with a house in London?" Rory asked her mother.

"Go to Europe like you always wanted to." Lorelai replied as she looked at her daughter. "I know it seems like a lot right now, but she knew that you could handle it." She said as she placed her hand on her daughters and just smiled.

"Yeah I guess." Rory mumbled as she looked down.


	19. Chapter 19

_Pictures tell the story of our life. They keep us frozen at all our favorite moments and some of the not so great moments. They keep us alive long after we are gone. However, for this New Yorker it was a picture that started his life. It wasn't until I saw her blue eyes in a picture staring back at me that I knew what it really meant to live. _

He looked at the words that he had just typed and then at the picture sitting there next to him. It was a picture of him holding her close that Lucy had captured that first weekend in Stars Hallow. He couldn't help, but smile at the thought that everything was finally coming together. He looked over at the clock. It was the middle of the night, she was probably sound asleep. He had just got her home hours before after the crazy week they had. He was still in shock that half way through the funeral that the pastor forgot where he was. He was amazed how Rory managed to laugh it off. She was so worried about everything being perfect for her Gran. But, his Rory could make an earthquake look like it was planned if she wanted to. She was just that perfect.

* * *

Lorelai woke up to the sound of her phone ringing. "I am going to murder whoever the hell is calling at this time!" She yelled as she stumbled down the stairs to the phone. "What." She said angrily into the phone as she answered it.

"_How many people can we shove in one boat?" _The voice on the other line asked. Lorelai took a moment to place the voice before looking at the clock in the living room. It was almost four thirty in the morning.

"Rory why are you calling at four in the morning?" Lorelai asked as she sat down on the sofa.

"_Mom I need you to come and help me. I have nothing done for this wedding. Six months isn't all that long." _Rory said in a panic on the other line. Lorelai couldn't help but smile. Her daughter wanted her help.

"I will be there first thing in the morning." She replied softly.

* * *

She wasn't sure why she decided to stay longer than she planned. In her mind she said it was to spend the next couple days with Ava and Collin. But, she wasn't so sure if that's really what it is. She walked into Weston's Bakery in search of the cupcakes that she had been obsessed with since Rory introduced them to her. As soon as she walked in it felt like everyone in the place was staring at her. She knew that everyone in town knew about the Dean thing, but she was unsure what they knew about Ty. She walked up to the counter when she figured out why everyone was watching so intensely. There standing by the register talking to the older woman who ran the place was Dean. There next to him was his perfect little bleach blonde wife. Lucy just looked at them for a second before turning back towards the door. She stood there for a moment and thought about what she was doing. At what point do you stop running away? _"You can't runaway every time something goes wrong!" _She could here Ty's words echoing through her head as she turned back around and walked back to that counter without thinking twice about it. She just stood there trying to ignore who was on the other side of the counter.

"Hold on a minute." The older woman said as she looked at Lindsey before walking over to Lucy. "You want your usual dear?" She asked sweetly.

"Yes please." Lucy replied as she smiled at the woman before looking down the counter to find the blonde glaring at her. "Didn't your mother ever teach you it isn't polite to stare?" She asked Lindsey causing one of the women watching from her seat to gasp.

"This coming from the woman who got bored with her husband and had to go around making plays on someone else's." Lindsey hissed as she looked at Lucy. Lucy just took her money and placed it on the counter before taking her small box that held one red velvet cupcake and her cup of coffee.

"You're just upset that I could make him happy." She replied to Lindsey as she walked by before exiting the bakery. She couldn't help, but to smile as she walked away. For the first time in a long time she felt like Lucy again and it felt great.

* * *

Lorelai used her key to let herself into her daughters apartment. She was almost positive that she was going to find her somewhere buried under a pile of wedding magazines somewhere inside. She was shocked to find her daughter standing over to stove. "Okay, what the hell are you doing? And what the hell have you done with my daughter?" She asked as she walked over to see her daughter cooking. The last time she actually thought about her daughter cooking was when she was sixteen and had that ridiculous Donna Reed night with Dean.

"Mom, I am about to get married. Husbands expect their wives to cook for them." Rory replied as she looked up at her mother.

"Sweets, I am pretty sure in no world does Jess expect you to cook for him." Lorelai replied with a laugh as she turned around to see the mess of lists and magazines that her daughter had spread out on the counter behind her. "I liked organized Rory better." Lorelai said as she picked up one piece of paper in which her daughter had poorly drawn boats and people.

"She liked you better too." Rory replied as she handed her mother a plate before turning off the oven and sitting down.

"My pancakes have a face." Lorelai squealed as she looked at the plate before looking up at her daughter. "Aren't you going to eat?"

"I ate earlier this morning." Rory replied softly.

"Okay as much as I have been dreading this question, what the hell is up with the boats?" Lorelai asked with a laugh as she looked around.

"Oh right I haven't told you yet… I am getting married on the old bridge!" Rory said excitingly as she smiled at her mother.

"Well, we have a starting point. We need to get Taylor to approve this." Lorelai said as she flipped over a piece of paper and started to write down notes.

"That might be hard. He is still pissed about the barn dance thing." Rory replied as she looked through some papers.

"Right…" Her mother replied as she started to think.

* * *

Jess hated this part of owning the bookstore. Being locked in a room with Matt and Josh trying to get them to focus on business matters rather than whether or not to think about opening a bar. "I don't see why we are even talking about a Hartford store. There is no way in hell you will ever be happy living in Connecticut." Josh said as he looked at Jess for a moment.

"See you both seem to find this one big joke, but I am getting married in July and then we are moving back to Connecticut at least part time. I know it does make sense to you two pea brains, but that's what is going to be happening. And I will be happy because I will be with Rory." He said as he stared at his two business partners. "Plus, another store will allow us to expand in ways we never thought about when this all started."

"This Rory is bringing way to much change." Josh mumbled as he looked at the floor.


	20. Chapter 20

_Luce, _

_I am not going to pretend like you mean nothing to me. I know that I am not strong enough and I can tell that you don't really believe that. So, I will sit here and wait for you forever. I fell in love with you when I was thirteen. We were sitting out on your back porch. You were telling me that you were going to be a star one day. You're my star and I don't want to spend another day without you. I will be right here when you realize you feel the same. _

_Forever Yours, _

_Ty_

She read the letter for what had to just about the millionth time since she found it taped to her van last week. That night she cried the whole way back into the city. She knew in her heart she still cared for him, but she didn't know what to do. She spent the rest of the week calling Lorelai asking about him. He had got a job at Weston's and had talked Al into letting him rent the apartment that sat above Al's Pancake World. Everyone in town was starting to love him. He always could make everyone love him. It was his gift.

"You know you don't have to come with us if you don't want to?" Rory said as she looked over at Lucy. They were packing the rest of their bags into the van as Jess walked the dogs around the block.

"And miss the Stars Hallow High Winter Carnival are you nuts?" She replied as she tried to smile.

"You know I didn't go to so many damn town functions when I lived there as I am now." Jess said sourly as he walked up behind them.

"That's what happens when you plan to marry the town princess." Lucy replied as she looked at him and then to her best friend. "She even has the crown to prove it." She finished as she laughed.

"She's worth it." Jess replied as he smiled at his fiancé.

"Okay, getting too sappy for me." She replied as she got into the van.

* * *

Lorelai walked into Luke's diner with a smile plastered on her face. She was on cloud nine that her little girl was coming home again. Before Jess came back into her life she could count the times she saw her daughter on her fingers. But, now everything seems to be working out for the best. "You look cheery." Luke said as he looked at her. "Rory must be coming to town." He said as he placed a cup of coffee in front of her.

"That she is." Lorelai replied as she placed the cup in her hand. "And she is staying later than Jess so I get quality Rory time." She said before taking a drink of her coffee.

"Well, you haven't killed him yet." Luke said as he looked at her.

"I have realized something good in this whole Jess and Rory thing." Lorelai replied softly. "He did something that no other boy would have done. He brought her home." She said as she smiled up at her boyfriend. "By the way we have a double date with them tonight." She said before she got up.

* * *

The first thing Lucy did when she got to Stars Hallow was to go to Weston's. She stood outside for a while watching him from the window. She wasn't about to chicken out. She thought about this moment the whole drive there. She knew that she had to do this. She walked in slowly not allowing herself to look at the other customers who were surely looking at her. "How can I help you?" Ty asked as she walked up to the counter. She just looked at the case avoiding his eyes. They were a weak spot of hers.

"One red velvet cupcake and a coffee for here." She answered. After that she just sat down at one of the tables for a moment. Slowly writing something on a napkin. She noticed him watching her, but didn't say anything she just got up and walked out. Leaving the napkin sitting there with a half-eaten cupcake and a full cup of coffee. She watched from a crossed the street as he read the note before sticking it in his back pocket.

* * *

"Please kill me." Jess mumbled as he looked over at Rory who was walking with him towards Luke's. She and Lorelai had thought it would be a good ideal for the four of them to go out on a double date. He knew it was just going to be awkward and weird. They are their parents for crying out loud. You don't double with your parents.

"I would never do that. You're no good to me dead." She said as she cuddled up to him wrapping her arm around his waist causing him to do the same.

"Rory!" Lorelai squealed as she dragged Luke over to the younger two.

"So what's on the agenda?" Rory asked her mother as she looked over at Luke who was already looking uncomfortable.

"I figured we would get take out and then hit the Black & White & Red Theater." Lorelai said as she smiled at everyone. "They are playing a great movie tonight Cool Hand Luke." Rory just looked behind them before she smiled.

"Cool there's no line at JoJo's." Rory replied.

"Why don't we just get the stuff from my place?" Luke asked as he looked at her.

"Because your food is good and has to be eaten fast or it sucks. JoJo's sucks already so we can take our time." Rory replied matter-of-factly.

"Plus, JoJo's is cheaper." Lorelai finished as she pushed Luke's towards JoJo's.


	21. Chapter 21

_The stars were gleaming in the big Texas sky. Looking out at the field that hadn't been touched in years the world felt huge to the young teenagers. He couldn't help, but to fall in love with her then and there. She was perfect sitting there with her long black hair pulled back in a ponytail and her brown eyes focused on the notes that she was playing. Her mother had just got her that old beat up guitar, but she wasn't allowing herself to put it down. Something thrilled her about the instrument. She played it so much that summer that her fingers would bleed. She was over the moon that night she had learned to play her first song. "Jimmy please say you'll wait for me, I'll grow up someday you'll see, saving all my kisses just for you, signed with love forever true…" She sang along with the notes she played for him softly. He couldn't help, but to chuckle at her choice of song. Normal thirteen year olds didn't idolize Conway Twitty, but she was different. She always had been. "Laugh all you want, but I am telling you one day I am going to be big. Then you will regret laughing at me." She said as she looked at him. _

"_Ah yes the big plan to move out to L.A. and take the music world by storm." He replied as he looked at her. He had his doubts that she would leave. She was too connected to this place even if she didn't want to admit it. Plus, her father had high hopes for her. She was going to go to the University of Texas majoring in accounting and then she would be the child to take over the family business. _

"_You just wait and see." She replied back with bite before she started to play again. _

She wasn't the same as she was back then anymore. She had changed. She had gotten stronger, more hard headed if you could believe that. He was in awe of her still as he watched her walk around the Winter Carnival by herself. He could help but to smile at the sight of her small figure bundled up in her thick winter coat. He never in a million years would think that she would end up someplace that got as cold as Connecticut, but he could tell that she was in love with this place. He had to stop himself from running up to her wrapping his arms around her before kiss her softly like he used to. He just pulled the note that she had left for him out of his pocket and looked at it. The words gave him hope that she still loved him too. The simple words written sloppily on a Weston's napkin gave him hope as he read them again: Jimmy please say you'll wait for me. I'll grow up someday you'll see. Saving all my kisses just for you. Signed with love forever true.

* * *

She couldn't help, but think about their first Winter Carnival as she sat on the steps of the Gazebo cuddling up to his side as Taylor worked on fixing the microphone. She remembered the way she felt just having him close when they were younger. That kiss where he backed her up against the save spot they sat in now. She tried her best to convince him to come then, but it took jealously to get him there. She just smiled at him as she thought about how lucky she was to have him. "I love you." She said softly to him.

"Why do I have a feeling that your about to ask me to win you one of those stupid bears?" He asked as he smiled down at her.

"Maybe later." She replied before adding "But, I could really go for a cup of coffee."

"That I can do." He replied as he moved his arm from behind her. "I will be back." He whispered before kissing her forehead. "Don't look at my ass as I walk away." He mumbled to her causing her to remember the conversation her and her mother were having this morning when he woke up. She felt herself blush at the thought that they were really sitting at their kitchen table comparing men's butts over coffee. Although she was more embarrassed that they got caught doing rather than that they were actually doing it.

* * *

He hated these stupid town events, but she loved them. She loved the feeling she got walking around the silly booths in the snow. He loved just holding her close. He had waited to damn long for her to be his to screw things up now. He watched from the sidelines as his nephew went through hell and back to get his Lorelai back. He wasn't about to go through that. "Luke, let's get our fortune told!" Lorelai squealed as she pulled him over to the booth of the crazy physic from Woodbridge. He just sighs as he sits down next to her just waiting for the nutcase to them that they are going to be rich and famous like she does everyone. Yet, he can't help to smile as he sees how happy she is.

* * *

"_I hate it here." She complained as she looked over at him before turning her head back up to the sky. "You can't find any freaking stars!" She wined. When they were little they would lay out in her backyard looking for pictures in the stars. Here there were no stars. Just the stupid city lights. They didn't even have grass to lay in. Nope they just sat there on the roof of their apartment building. _

"_I always have a star to look at." He mumbled as he pulled her closer. "I always have you." He finished before he kissed her forehead. _

She couldn't play this game any longer. She knew if she had any chance with him she had to act soon. He had spent most of his life waiting for her. How could she possibly make him wait any longer? She just smiled over at him before turning her attention to Kirk who was working the DJ equipment until Taylor could fix the microphone for the live performance. She thought of a plan as she marched off towards Kirk. She was determined to make things right.

* * *

"I swear if you ever donated blood coffee would come out instead." He said as he handed her the cup of coffee he got from the diner for her. She just laughed as she took a sip.

"You know what they say. Gilmores are ninety percent water, ten percent caffeine." She replied with a laugh as he sat down next to her again on the steps of the Gazebo. "I am sorry if this is boring to you." She said softly as she looked into his eyes. Sometimes he swore she could look right into his soul.

"For a crazy town event it isn't half bad." He replied as he pulled her closer to him. "I get to sit here with the pretest woman in town." He said as he leaned down and kissed her shoulder. "And I get to think about how amazing it feels to know that she is coming home with me and that I get to hold her forever." He half whispered into her ear.

"Stop you're going to make me cry." She whispered back as she stared into his eyes unable to hide the smile that was controlling her face.

"I guess I should put that in my vows then. You know right there with how I love that she thinks I have a better ass than my uncle." He replied with a laugh as he pushed a strand of hair out of her face.

"You're going to make me regret writing our own vows aren't you?" She asked as she looked at him.

"Probably, I mean I got the ass thing. Oh and the devil egging my car. Not to forget how I have the way you use your music to seduce me into bed." He answered with a smile.

"You know most men would be thrilled when their fiancé takes the time not only to write them a song, but to sit in the living and sing it to them." She replied as she started to blush.

"Yes, but most of those girls wouldn't do while wearing nothing but his worn out Clash shirt." He added.

"I wanted to get your attention." She stated as she lowered her voice realizing that Taylor had been listening to their whole conversation. "Plus, I have some pretty good material for my vows too. You better bet your ass that the swan incident is getting in there somehow." She was giggling as she added the last part letting her head rest on his shoulder.

"You are so lucky that I love you." He mumbled to her.


	22. Chapter 22

_**Beneath the chandelier**_

_**Of stars and atmosphere**_

_**Tangled like the roots on the ground**_

She looked up at the sky. He looked over at her. Neither of them able to stop smiling as they lay there together. He had pulled her away from the winter carnival over an hour ago. She knew that he hated town events. Hell, she was surprised that he lasted as long as he did. He knew that she loved it when he would drag her away to their spot. They didn't have to say a word. They could just sit there on the bridge together. In reality nothing was able to compare how much they loved these little moments. "I love you." She whispered to him as she moved closer to him burying her face into his neck to protect it from the cold. "I love you too." He mumbled back as he looked down at her for a moment before looking over to the side. He just smiled wider when he saw their initials craved into the wood.

_He didn't know why she did it. It wasn't her, but yet here she was. She had snuck out of her house to come and see him. He just looked up from his book to see her smiling at him. "Should you be home reviving Lorelai?" He asked her with a laugh as she sat down next to him. _

"_Apparently Al's makes her sleepy." She replied as she smiled at him. They didn't talk. They didn't have to. Sitting here was enough. That was until she looked down at the bridge and noticed something on the wood. "I have never seen this before." She said softly as she ran her fingers over the letters. He just looked down at the simple R.G + J.M. A smirk came over his face as he looked into her blue eyes. "When did you do it?" She asked him._

"_How do you know it was me?" He asked softly. _

"_Defacing public property has your name written all over it… or at least you initials." She replied with a laugh. _

"_When this became our spot." He answered simply. _

"_What is that supposed to mean?"_

"_Figure it out." He replied before he touched his lips against hers._

He could feel her start to shiver bringing him back to reality. "Come on let's get you home." He said softly as he started to get up. She just smiled up at him sleepily as he pulled her up wrapping his arms protectively around her waist.

"I can't wait to get this silly dress off." She mumbled to him as he walked them down the snowy path back to her childhood home.

"I am sure that I can help you with that." He replied back softly to her as he kissed the base of her neck.

"I didn't mean it that way." She practically squealed. "I just want to go home and throw on my fuzzy pajamas and wrap up under the blankets as I cuddle up to you." She said softly as she stared into his eyes.

"Sounds like a good plan, but you didn't pack your fuzzy pajamas." He replied with a laugh.

"I keep a pair in the dresser at mom's still." She said before she stuck her tongue out at him.

_**The windows open up **_

_**The wind is blowing**_

_**And we're both not making a sound**_

_**It's like I'm melting on into you**_

_**Give me a reason **_

_**Why we should ever move**_

"You know sometimes I could kill my mother." She said as she walked back into the tiny bedroom after going to the bathroom to get ready for bed. He just smiled as he noticed that she wasn't in the fuzzy mess of pajamas she was planning on wearing to bed. Instead she was standing there in a pair of his old sweats with a long sleeve shirt thrown under his Clash shirt. It didn't take a genesis to realize that her mother must have stolen the other pajamas.

"Out of all my shirts you could have stolen for yourself why must it be my favorite?" He asked as she sat down next to him on the bed wasting no time pulling the covers over her body.

"Have you ever thought that maybe the shirt chose me over you?" She asked him with a smile creeping on her face growing wider the more she talked about the subject. "Maybe it just thinks that it looks better on me." She added as she smiled up at him.

"Well it does look better on you, but that is beside the point." He replied as he rested his head on top of hers. He was doing everything he could to keep them as close as possible. "I am suddenly glad that this isn't high school anymore." He muttered into her hair as he closed his eyes. She just laughed softly knowing what he was getting to at that. Both of them thinking back to the time that Jess snuck in with her only to leave the window open in the middle of December. It was a miracle that they weren't popsicles by the time they woke up. Not that they cared. Just holding on to each other was worth the cold they had the week afterwards.

"I wish we never had to get up." She mumbled to him. "Just laying here together like this…its perfect." She replied as she closed her eyes slowly falling to sleep to the sound of his heart beating next to her.

_**And tell me **_

_**You'll never leave me**_

_**That I'm not crazy**_

_**And this is really happening**_

_**This is really happening**_

It still felt like a dream. He knew that he didn't deserve to get her back, but that just means he has to fight for her every day. He knew that from the second that he got her back, even more after she agreed to marry him. He just watched her sleep as he thought back to the night that he proposed the first time.

_He was going to marry Rory. This piece of perfection was going to be his forever. It was hard for him to wrap his mind around the fact that his Rory … the girl that was out of reach for so long was laying there with him staring up at the ceiling of her hotel room. "What are you thinking about?" She asked as she placed her head on his bare chest._

_"I am just trying to make sure this is real." He replied as he looked down at her. Rory just smiled at him._

_"I promise you this is real." She said as she snuggled up to him._

_"What are you thinking about?" He asked as he put his arm around her._

_"How perfect this moment is." She answered. "I love you Jess."_

_"I love you Rory." He replied. _

"This is really happening." He mumbled softly as he looked down at the angel lying in his arms. A smile just came over his face as he drifted to sleep.

_**Could this be better?**_

_**You write me letters**_

_**Through you see me everyday**_

She laughed as she shut off the alarm. She never could understand how he managed to get himself all these years. Every morning he slept right through the alarm, but that was just one of the many things she loved about him. Just like every morning she carefully crawled out of bed. She looked around the kitchen to find it empty. She wasn't sure if that meant that her mother left already, or was still asleep, or if she even came home the night before. Ever since she had got together with Luke she was spending more and more nights in that tiny apartment above the diner. Not that she could say anything. Her and Jess were equally inseparable. He would stay with her most of the time, but every once in a while she would crash with him. Those nights were always interesting; she had almost forgotten what it was like to have crazy roommates before them. She had been all alone in her apartment since she moved to New York. She almost enjoyed being around a whole group of people like that, but if she was there every night she would have killed Matt by now.

She walked over to the counter to find her favorite coffee mug sitting next to the coffee pot just like the identical match to it did in her New York apartment. She smiled when she saw the purple post-it note stuck on it. He knew that she got up before him. It was about the second night he spent at the apartment with her that he started leaving her good morning messages around. She couldn't help but to roll her eyes and laugh as she read the simple words he had scribbled on the post-it for her: Good Morning Beautiful! He was perfect, but then again she knew that since she was seventeen.

_**You tend to treat me like my name is up in lights**_

_**It really blows me away**_

_**Lock me up in a dark room**_

_**And I still can't take my eyes off you**_

She looked at the clock for a moment, sighing as she realized that she was going to have to wake him up soon. He was so peaceful sleeping there. She couldn't help, but to just stare at him. Now she understood why he would watch her sleep in the middle of the night when he couldn't sleep. It was nice for things to be this simple. She just sat there ignoring the time thinking about him.

_**Tell me **_

_**You'll never leave me**_

_**And I'm not crazy**_

_**And this is really happening**_

_**That this is really happening**_

She knew that he was all in this time and she loved that. She knew that she could never recover if he ran again. She just leaned down and kissed his forehead before walking over to the desk grabbing a post-it. She wrote him a message and left it on her pillow before making her way towards the diner. She just thought about their first night back together as she walked through the snow.

_"Just promise me no more running. I am sick of one of us having come back to each other like this." She said as she looked at him._

_"I promise I won't leave again." He said as held on to her._

_"If you do I get to hunt you down and personally chop off your head." She said as she smiled up at him._

_"Sounds like a plan." He said as he leaned down to kiss her again._

She just smiled as she reminded herself that this was really happening. She just thought about how far they came and everything that she knew was going to happen in their future.

_**For all those kisses**_

_**Up against your car**_

_They sat outside of her house for twenty just holding onto each other as they leaned up against his beat up car. They were still recovering from the concert and in her case the anger that she held in for a week. "Let's go somewhere." He mumbled to her as he looked into her eyes. _

"_I can't my mom is probably already freaking out." She replied upset that she couldn't just run off with him. "I'll see you tomorrow?" She asked as she leaned into kiss him. Neither of them wanting to pull away once their lips melted together. He just sighed as he pulled away resting his forehead on hers. _

"_You are going to be the death of me." He muttered as he looked at her causing her to smile. "I will see you in the diner tomorrow." He answered before kissing her one more time. _

_**For all those wishes **_

_**On planes that we thought were stars**_

_He just pulled them down so their backs were touching the bridge. "What are you doing?" She asked as she looked at him. _

"_You said that you loved the stars." He replied with a laugh. "It's easier to look at them this way." She just laughed at him. _

"_Look at that one." She said as she looked at him and then up at the sky she was pointing at. "That's a nice star. That is one worthy of being wished on." She said as she smiled up at the sky. _

"_Ror, that's a plane." He replied with a laugh. "See it's moving." _

"_I don't care. Make a wish on it." She said as she looked into his eyes. "For me." She added bringing out the irresistible Gilmore pout. _

_**Memories like Photographs**_

_**Oh baby here we are**_

She walked into the diner to find it almost completely empty. The only person there was Kirk who was sitting at the end of the counter counting his blueberries. She knew that Luke must have been either upstairs or in the back. She just smiled at the picture of her and Jess that was taped to the wall behind the counter. It was from their first weekend back in Stars Hallow. The weekend he proposed. She didn't know what made her do it, but she took it down. Sitting down at the counter she scribbled a message on the back.

_**Tell me**_

_**You'll never leave me**_

_**And I'm not crazy**_

_**Oh and this is really happening**_

She was almost done when she heard the bell ring from the door opening up. It wasn't a moment later that she felt a pair of arms snake around her waist. "What are you doing?" Jess asked before he placed a soft kiss on her neck.

"Waiting for Luce. Leaving my handsome fiancé a note." She answered as she giggled do to his lips touching the base of her neck again. Kirk just looked over at the two and glared for a moment causing him to laugh along with her.

"Let me see what you have to say." He said as he picked up the photo and read what she wrote him:

_**Baby tell me**_

_**You'll always need me**_

_**That I drive you crazy**_

_**And this is really happening**_

_**That this is really happening**_

She just watched him not sure of what his reaction would be. She was half expecting him to burst out into laugher over the sappy words. Instead he just turned her chair so that they were facing each other again. He leaned down until their lips were less than an inch apart. "I will always need you." He muttered as he smiled at her moving closer, but not touching his lips to hers. "You drive me crazy." She just smiled at him as his lips came down on hers. He cupped her face as he pulled away and said softly "And this is really happening."

**A/N: The lyrics are from Taylor Swift's This Is Really Happening. You can find the song on youtube if you want to listen to it. Sorry it took so long to update. Let me know what you think!**


	23. Chapter 23

_The old Lucy kicked in. She was sick of this. She was sick of these games. Sick of acting like this is what she wanted. She almost threw it all away for someone as stupid as Dean. She just looked over at him as she walked over towards Kirk. He was the one. She knew that since she was twelve. She screwed things up too much though. She didn't know why he kept coming back to her. She would have understood if he just gave up. But, for some reason he wouldn't. "I'm not allowed to take request." Kirk said as she stood in front of him. _

"_I will give you thirty bucks if you let me take over this while you go get some coffee or something." She said as she pulled the money out of her pocket. She just smiled as he took the money and walked away. She knew that it had to be there. She had seen it at the barn dance. The record that could make everything seem right. She had gotten funny looks when the sad toned song changed the mood of the festival from before._

* * *

_**Jimmy please say you'll wait for me**_

_**I'll grow up someday**_

_**You'll see**_

_**Saving all my kisses just for you**_

_**Signed with love forever true**_

_As soon as the song started he began looking around for her. No one else would have wanted this song. Hell, who even thought about this song anymore besides his Lucy. He felt the whole town staring at him as he finally saw Lucy making her way towards him. He saw the fear in her eyes as they got closer and closer. He wanted to pinch himself. It just didn't feel real. He never actually thought she would come back to him. He hoped for it sure, but she had made it pretty damn clear that she didn't need him. Her eyes sparkled at him like they used to. He could see tears forming and he prayed they were happy tears. He could tell he was close to tears too when she finally reached him. She just placed her hand on the side of his face. _

_**I packed my clothes**_

_**And I caught a plane**_

_**I had to see Joni**_

_**I had to explain**_

"…_How my heart was filled with her memory and ask my Joni if she would marry me…" She sang along with the music softly as she moved in closer to him. "Don't cry." She whispered before she touched her lips to his. Please let this be real was all he could think as he held her close to him. He couldn't help, but to smile when he heard the townspeople clapping. _

"_You always have to make a scene." He mumbled to her as they pulled away from each other. _

* * *

He just rolled over to see the other side of the bed empty. For a minute he wondered if it was all a dream. Maybe he just wanted her to run to him for once that he dreamt the night before up. That was until he heard the sound of music coming from his living room. Sure enough there she was sitting on the kitchen counter smiling at him. She had his old University of Texas sweatshirt on and was fiddling with the old radio he got her when they first got married. "I can't believe you kept this thing. I thought you said it was junk?" She asked with a laugh as she smiled at him.

"Yeah well my wife loved it." He replied as he walked over towards her. "If I remember right she even named the damn thing." He added as he stood in front of her. Her face just lit up like the Fourth of July when he said that.

"Oh my god, I completely forgot about that." She said as she laughed before looking at the radio. "I am so sorry Cledus."

"I think Cledus will forgive you if you promise never to leave us again." He said as he wrapped his arms around her waist. "We are really happy to have you back Mrs. Hensley." He added as he looked into her brown eyes. He moved in for a kiss, but she stopped him.

"Sorry, but I have to meet Rory. We have wedding stuff to do." She said as she hopped off the counter. "But, keep thinking what you're thinking."


End file.
